Abbas, SM, Ranga, Y & Esselle, KP 2015, 'Reconfigurable antenna options for 2.45/5 GHz wireless body area networks in healthcare applications', 2015 37th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBC), pp. 5465-5468.
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Abdolali, A, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Zhou, JL, Du, B, Wei, Q, Wang, XC & Nguyen, PD 2015, 'Characterization of a multi-metal binding biosorbent: Chemical modification and desorption studies', BIORESOURCE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 193, pp. 477-487.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. This work attends to preparation and characterization of a novel multi-metal binding biosorbent after chemical modification and desorption studies. Biomass is a combination of tea waste, maple leaves and mandarin peels with a certain proportion to adsorb cadmium, copper, lead and zinc ions from aqueous solutions. The mechanism involved in metal removal was investigated by SEM, SEM/EDS and FTIR. SEM/EDS showed the presence of different chemicals and adsorbed heavy metal ions on the surface of biosorbent. FTIR of both unmodified and modified biosorbents revealed the important role of carboxylate groups in heavy metal biosorption. Desorption using different eluents and 0.1M HCl showed the best desorption performance. The effectiveness of regeneration step by 1M CaCl2 on five successive cycles of sorption and desorption displays this multi-metal binding biosorbent (MMBB) can effectively be utilized as an adsorbent to remove heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions in five cycles of sorption/desorption/regeneration.
Abdullahi, S, Pradhan, B & Jebur, MN 2015, 'GIS-based sustainable city compactness assessment using integration of MCDM, Bayes theorem and RADAR technology', Geocarto International, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 365-387.
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Abdullahi, S, Pradhan, B & Jebur, MN 2015, 'GIS-based sustainable city compactness assessment using integration of MCDM, Bayes theorem and RADAR technology', Geocarto International, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 365-387.
Abdullahi, S, Pradhan, B, Mansor, S & Shariff, ARM 2015, 'GIS-based modeling for the spatial measurement and evaluation of mixed land use development for a compact city', GIScience & Remote Sensing, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 18-39.
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Abdullahi, S, Pradhan, B, Mansor, S & Shariff, ARM 2015, 'Urban sustainability analysis through Compact city: GIS-based modeling for spatial measurement and evaluation of mixed landuse development', GIScience and Remote Sensing, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 18-39.
Abolhasan, M, Lipman, J, Ni, W & Hagelstein, B 2015, 'Software-Defined Wireless Networking: Centralized, Distributed, or Hybrid?', IEEE NETWORK, vol. 29, no. 4, pp. 32-38.
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© 2015 IEEE. Scalability is a key issue in large scale WDNs, such as vehicular networks and device-to-device networks. To address the issue, this article extends the SDN concept, and presents a new network architecture that eliminates the need of multi-hop flooding for route discovery, thereby enabling WDNs to scale. The key idea of the new architecture is to split network control and data forwarding by using two separate frequency bands. Another important aspect of the architecture is that computational complexity of routing is split between the SDN controller and the forwarding nodes, thereby allowing nodes to make distributed routing decisions. As a result, network control of the new architecture has a hybrid structure, which improves the operability and scalability of large scale WDNs. Our case study shows that the new architecture is able to substantially improve scalability and reliability of WDNs, especially in mobile environments.
Abousnina, RM, Nghiem, LD & Bundschuh, J 2015, 'Comparison between oily and coal seam gas produced water with respect to quantity, characteristics and treatment technologies: a review', Desalination and Water Treatment, vol. 54, no. 7, pp. 1793-1808.
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Abu Alsheikh, M, Hoang, DT, Niyato, D, Tan, H-P & Lin, S 2015, 'Markov Decision Processes With Applications in Wireless Sensor Networks: A Survey', IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, vol. 17, no. 3, pp. 1239-1267.
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Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) consist of autonomous and resource-limited devices. The devices cooperate to monitor one or more physical phenomena within an area of interest. WSNs operate as stochastic systems because of randomness in the monitored environments. For long service time and low maintenance cost, WSNs require adaptive and robust methods to address data exchange, topology formulation, resource and power optimization, sensing coverage and object detection, and security challenges. In these problems, sensor nodes are used to make optimized decisions from a set of accessible strategies to achieve design goals. This survey reviews numerous applications of the Markov decision process (MDP) framework, a powerful decision-making tool to develop adaptive algorithms and protocols for WSNs. Furthermore, various solution methods are discussed and compared to serve as a guide for using MDPs in WSNs.
Acín, A, Duan, R, Roberson, DE, Sainz, AB & Winter, A 2015, 'A new property of the Lovász number and duality relations between graph parameters', Discrete Applied Mathematics, vol. 216, no. 3, pp. 3-501.
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We show that for any graph $G$, by considering 'activation' through thestrong product with another graph $H$, the relation $\alpha(G) \leq\vartheta(G)$ between the independence number and the Lov\'{a}sz number of $G$can be made arbitrarily tight: Precisely, the inequality \[ \alpha(G \times H) \leq \vartheta(G \times H) = \vartheta(G)\,\vartheta(H) \]becomes asymptotically an equality for a suitable sequence of ancillary graphs$H$. This motivates us to look for other products of graph parameters of $G$ and$H$ on the right hand side of the above relation. For instance, a result ofRosenfeld and Hales states that \[ \alpha(G \times H) \leq \alpha^*(G)\,\alpha(H), \] with the fractionalpacking number $\alpha^*(G)$, and for every $G$ there exists $H$ that makes theabove an equality; conversely, for every graph $H$ there is a $G$ that attainsequality. These findings constitute some sort of duality of graph parameters, mediatedthrough the independence number, under which $\alpha$ and $\alpha^*$ are dualto each other, and the Lov\'{a}sz number $\vartheta$ is self-dual. We also showduality of Schrijver's and Szegedy's variants $\vartheta^-$ and $\vartheta^+$of the Lov\'{a}sz number, and explore analogous notions for the chromaticnumber under strong and disjunctive graph products.
Acuna, P, Moran, L, Rivera, M, Aguilera, R, Burgos, R & Agelidis, VG 2015, 'A Single-Objective Predictive Control Method for a Multivariable Single-Phase Three-Level NPC Converter-Based Active Power Filter', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 62, no. 7, pp. 4598-4607.
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© 1982-2012 IEEE. A single-objective predictive control method that deals with four main control objectives applied to a multivariable single-phase three-level neutral-point-clamped converter operating as an active power filter is proposed in this paper. The four control objectives are to self-support the dc-bus voltage under load variations, to compensate the reactive power and the current harmonics, and to balance the dc capacitor voltages by using a predefined combination of the redundant switching states of the converter. The main contribution of the proposed method is that these objectives are accomplished without using weighting factors in the cost function, which eliminates problems such as multiobjective optimization or additional empirical procedures for determination of these factors. As a result, the method is easy to implement and rapidly selects the optimal voltage to improve the dynamic-state performance. Experimental results from a 2-kVA prototype are presented to prove that the method is valid for single-phase compensation. The well-known effect of model parameter errors' issue, which is inherent in predictive control methods, is also tested to confirm that the harmonic distortion in the grid current is below 5% even when the predictive model has a 25% error between actual and theoretically estimated grid impedance values.
Aditiya, HB, Sing, KP, Hanif, M & Mahlia, TMI 2015, 'Effect of Acid Pretreatment on Enzymatic Hydrolysis in Bioethanol Production from Rice Straw', International Journal of Technology, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 3-3.
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© IJTech 2015. Clean, safe and sustainable energy sources must be found to minimize all side-effects of fossil fuel consumption. Second generation bioethanol possesses a great potential as an alternative energy source especially in the transportation sector. In this study, rice straw was selected to be studied as a conversion of potential lignocellulosic biomass into bioethanol. Firstly, rice straw was processed with mechanical pretreatment using a home blender, followed by acid pretreatment using 2.0 M sulphuric acid (H2SO4) at 90°C for 60 minutes. The glucose yield was found to be 9.71 g/L. Then, rice straw pretreated with acid was hydrolyzed using 24 mg of cellulase from Tichoderma Ressei ATCC 26921 over a 72-hour duration, which yielded a total glucose count of 11.466 g/L. After fermentation with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, it was found that by combining enzymatic hydrolysis with acid pretreatment yielded a higher ethanol content after fermentation (0.1503% or 52.75% of theoretical value) compared to acidic pretreatment alone (0.013% or 11.26% of theoretical value).
Afroz, F, Heidery, R, Shehab, M, Sandrasegaran, K & Shompa, SS 2015, 'Comparative Analysis of Downlink Packet Scheduling Algorithms in 3GPP LTE Networks', International Journal of Wireless & Mobile Networks, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 1-21.
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Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile network aims to support high speed network services even in highmobility
scenarios. To achieve this goal, LTE adopts some advanced features in Radio Resource
Management (RRM) procedures. Among them, LTE packet scheduling plays a fundamental role in
maximising system performance. In this paper, a comparative analysis on the performances of
Proportional Fair (PF), Exponential/Proportional Fair (EXP/PF), Exponential (EXP) Rule, MaximumLargest
Weighted Delay First (M-LWDF), Logarithmic (LOG) Rule and Frame Level Scheduler (FLS) LTE
downlink packet scheduling algorithms is reported. Performance is evaluated in single cell with
interference environment while increasing user number and user speed. Results show that for multimedia
flow, FLS scheme outperforms other five schemes in terms of packet delay, packet loss ratio, and average
throughput, whereas for best-effort flow, EXP-PF scheme shows better average throughput performance on
average as compared with other algorithms being considered herein.
Afroz, F, Huq, A, F, A & Sandrasegaran, K 2015, 'Performance Analysis of Adaptive Noise Canceller Employing NLMS Algorithm', International Journal of Wireless & Mobile Networks, vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 45-58.
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Afroz, F, Sandrasegaran, K & H, AK 2015, 'Interference Management in Lte Downlink Networks', International Journal of Wireless & Mobile Networks, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 91-106.
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Afroz, F, Subramanian, R, Heidary, R, Sandrasegaran, K & Ahmed, S 2015, 'SINR, RSRP, RSSI and RSRQ Measurements in Long Term Evolution Networks', International Journal of Wireless & Mobile Networks, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 113-123.
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Afshar, S, George, L, Thakur, CS, Tapson, J, van Schaik, A, de Chazal, P & Hamilton, TJ 2015, 'Turn Down That Noise: Synaptic Encoding of Afferent SNR in a Single Spiking Neuron', IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 188-196.
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Afzal, MU & Esselle, KP 2015, 'Quasi-analytical synthesis of continuous phase correcting structures to increase the directivity of circularly polarized Fabry-Perot resonator antennas', Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 117, no. 21, pp. 214902-214902.
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This paper presents a quasi-analytical technique to design a continuous, all-dielectric phase correcting structures (PCSs) for circularly polarized Fabry-Perot resonator antennas (FPRAs). The PCS has been realized by varying the thickness of a rotationally symmetric dielectric block placed above the antenna. A global analytical expression is derived for the PCS thickness profile, which is required to achieve nearly uniform phase distribution at the output of the PCS, despite the non-uniform phase distribution at its input. An alternative piecewise technique based on spline interpolation is also explored to design a PCS. It is shown from both far- and near-field results that a PCS tremendously improves the radiation performance of the FPRA. These improvements include an increase in peak directivity from 22 to 120 (from 13.4 dBic to 20.8 dBic) and a decrease of 3 dB beamwidth from 41.5° to 15°. The phase-corrected antenna also has a good directivity bandwidth of 1.3 GHz, which is 11% of the center frequency.
Afzal, MU, Esselle, KP & Zeb, BA 2015, 'Dielectric Phase-Correcting Structures for Electromagnetic Band Gap Resonator Antennas', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 63, no. 8, pp. 3390-3399.
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A novel technique to design a phase-correcting structure (PCS) for an electromagnetic band gap (EBG) resonator antenna (ERA) is presented. The aperture field of a classical ERA has a significantly nonuniform phase distribution, which adversely affects its radiation characteristics. An all-dielectric PCS was designed to transform such a phase distribution to a nearly uniform phase distribution. A prototype designed using proposed technique was fabricated and tested to verify proposed methodology and to validate predicted results. A very good agreement between the predicted and the measured results is noted. Significant increase in antenna performance has been achieved due to this phase correction, including 9-dB improvement in antenna directivity (from 12.3 dBi to 21.6 dBi), lower side lobes, higher gain, and better aperture efficiency. The phase-corrected antenna has a 3-dB directivity bandwidth of 8%.
Aguilera, RP & Quevedo, DE 2015, 'Predictive Control of Power Converters: Designs With Guaranteed Performance', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 53-63.
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Aguilera, RP, Lezana, P & Quevedo, DE 2015, 'Switched Model Predictive Control for Improved Transient and Steady-State Performance', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 968-977.
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Ahern, T, Gardner, A & Courtney, M 2015, 'A survey of the breast care nurse role in the provision of information and supportive care to Australian women diagnosed with breast cancer', Nursing Open, vol. 2, no. 2, pp. 62-71.
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AbstractAimTo explore the role of the Australian breast care nurse in the provision of information and support to women with breast cancer, with a focus on the differences experienced depending on geographic work context.DesignA cross‐sectional study.MethodsThis study conducted in 2013, involved surveying BCNs currently working in Australia, using a newly developed self‐report online survey.ResultsFifty breast care nurses completed the survey, 40% from major cities, 42% from inner regional Australia and 18% from outer regional, remote and very remote Australia. Patterns of service indicated higher caseloads in urban areas, with fewer kilometres served. Breast care nurses in outer regional, remote and very remote areas were less likely to work in multi‐disciplinary teams and more likely to spend longer consulting with patients. Breast care nurses reported they undertook roles matching the competency standards related to the provision of education, information and support; however, there were barriers to fulfilling competencies including knowledge based limitations, time constraints and servicing large geographical areas.ConclusionsThis was the first Australian study to describe the role of the breast care nurse nationally and the first study to investigate breast care nurses perceived ability to meet a selection of the Australian Specialist Breast Nurse Competency Standards. Important differences were found according to the geographical location of breast care nurses.
Ahmed, M, Khawaja, M, Notarianni, M, Wang, B, Goding, D, Gupta, B, Boeckl, JJ, Takshi, A, Motta, N, Saddow, SE & Iacopi, F 2015, 'A thin film approach for SiC-derived graphene as an on-chip electrode for supercapacitors', Nanotechnology, vol. 26, no. 43, pp. 434005-434005.
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Ahmed, M, Khawaja, M, Notarianni, M, Wang, B, Goding, D, Gupta, B, Boeckl, JJ, Takshi, A, Motta, N, Saddow, SE & Iacopi, F 2015, 'Porous SiC/Graphene-on-Wafer Electrodes for Supercapacitors', ECS Meeting Abstracts, vol. MA2015-01, no. 1, pp. 186-186.
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The intensive research on epitaxial 3C SiC/Si wafers has opened up a new era for the micro-fabrication industry and led to the direct growth of high quality and large area graphene layers on the device location for on-chip applications.[1] This new technology to grow graphene on silicon possesses various advantages over the conventional methodology, such as eliminating the complex and unreliable process of transferring graphene flakes and replacing expensive SiC wafers, and also prompts the use of graphene for energy storage, e.g. as supercapacitors, at wafer level. However, morphology control of the graphene layers on silicon remains a challenge to further enhance the performance of supercapacitors, which mainly relies on the surface area of the active graphene layers through an electrochemical double layer mechanism. To address this issue, we demonstrate, for the first time, creating porosity on the graphene surface. The growth of porous graphene on wafers in our work presents a facile, highly reproducible and low-cost approach to obtain highly continuous graphene layers with extremely low sheet resistance. Our preliminary electrochemical investigation indicates that the porous SiC/graphene-on-wafer electrode can deliver typical supercapacitive behaviours and the porosity we create on the graphene surface can facilitate the electrochemical performance by providing more accessible surface area. Graphene prepared via this routine can also be employed to fabricate micro-supercapacitors in an interdiginated pattern for future on-chip integration and energy storage. [1] B.V. Cunning, M. Ahmed, N. Mishra, A.R. Kermany, B. Wood, F. Iacopi, Nanotechnology, 25 (2014) 325301.
Ahmed, MB, Zhou, JL, Ngo, HH & Guo, W 2015, 'Adsorptive removal of antibiotics from water and wastewater: Progress and challenges', SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 532, pp. 112-126.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Antibiotics as emerging contaminants are of global concern due to the development of antibiotic resistant genes potentially causing superbugs. Current wastewater treatment technology cannot sufficiently remove antibiotics from sewage, hence new and low-cost technology is needed. Adsorptive materials have been extensively used for the conditioning, remediation and removal of inorganic and organic hazardous materials, although their application for removing antibiotics has been reported for ~30 out of 250 antibiotics so far. The literature on the adsorptive removal of antibiotics using different adsorptive materials is summarized and critically reviewed, by comparing different adsorbents with varying physicochemical characteristics. The efficiency for removing antibiotics from water and wastewater by different adsorbents has been evaluated by examining their adsorption coefficient (Kd) values. For sulfamethoxazole the different adsorbents followed the trend: biochar (BC)>multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)>graphite=clay minerals, and for tetracycline the adsorptive materials followed the trend: SWCNT>graphite>MWCNT=activated carbon (AC)>bentonite=humic substance=clay minerals. The underlying controlling parameters for the adsorption technology have been examined. In addition, the cost of preparing adsorbents has been estimated, which followed the order of BCs
Ahmed, S, Afroz, F, Tawsif, A & Huq, A 2015, 'Cancellation of White and Color Noise with Adaptive Filter Using LMS Algorithm', IJWMN, vol. vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 19-36.
Akbarnezhad, A, Huan, M, Mesgari, S & Castel, A 2015, 'Recycling of geopolymer concrete', Construction and Building Materials, vol. 101, pp. 152-158.
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Akhiani, AR, Mehrali, M, Tahan Latibari, S, Mehrali, M, Mahlia, TMI, Sadeghinezhad, E & Metselaar, HSC 2015, 'One-Step Preparation of Form-Stable Phase Change Material through Self-Assembly of Fatty Acid and Graphene', The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, vol. 119, no. 40, pp. 22787-22796.
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Akther, N, Sodiq, A, Giwa, A, Daer, S, Arafat, HA & Hasan, SW 2015, 'Recent advancements in forward osmosis desalination: A review', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 281, pp. 502-522.
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© 2015. Forward osmosis (FO) is one of the evolving membrane technologies in desalination with recent expanded new interest as a low energy process. The most significant parts of FO process are the membrane and draw solution since both play a substantial role in its performance. Hence, the selection of an appropriate membrane and draw solution is crucial for the process efficiency. Improvements in the development of membranes and draw solutes have been recorded recently. However, limitations such as fouling of FO membranes, reverse solute flux, concentration polarization, and low permeate flux in standalone FO systems. This work targets the review of recent progress in FO, aiming on the prospects and challenges. It starts with addressing the advantages of the FO process. The crucial part of this review is a thorough discussion of hybrid FO systems, different FO membranes, and draw solutes available coupled with their effects on FO performance. Finally, the future of FO for sustainable desalination is also discussed.
Al Aattas, M & Kang, K 2015, 'Saudi Enterprise and Critical Success Factors', The Journal of Organizational Management Studies, vol. 2015, pp. 1-8.
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The importance of the business systems is ever increasingly, as the new and innovative systems
are being used by organizations to improve their competitiveness. Based on the literature
review, this research identifies four factors that can impact the success of new business systems
in Saudi enterprise. However, the role of culture also cannot be neglected in the Saudi firms
which aim to improve their businesses systems. This research is proposing a conceptual model
that describes the culture impact on the success of new business systems in Saudi enterprises
related to collaboration and IT experience, and the characteristics related to IT systems:
usefulness and efficiency.
Al Aattas, MI & Kang, K 2015, 'Cultural impact on the success of new business systems in Saudi enterprises', Asian Journal of Information Technology, vol. 14, no. 4, pp. 129-134.
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The significance of the business systems is ever increasingly in firms to improve their competitiveness is using a new technology in the business system, in particular in Saudi enterprise. This research propose a conceptual model that describes the culture impact related to collaboration and IT experience and the characteristics related to IT systems: usefulness and efficiency on the success of new business systems in Saudi enterprises. The empirical findings show these factors have significant effects on new business system success.
Al Mahmud, KAH, Kalam, MA, Masjuki, HH & Abdollah, MFB 2015, 'Tribological Study of a Tetrahedral Diamond-Like Carbon Coating under Vegetable Oil–Based Lubricated Condition', Tribology Transactions, vol. 58, no. 5, pp. 907-913.
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Al Mahmud, KAH, Kalam, MA, Masjuki, HH, Mobarak, HM & Zulkifli, NWM 2015, 'An updated overview of diamond-like carbon coating in tribology', Critical Reviews in Solid State and Materials Sciences, vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 90-118.
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Albahri, A, Lech, M & Cheng, E 2015, 'Effect of Speech Compression on the Automatic Recognition of Emotions', International Journal of Signal Processing Systems, vol. 4, no. 1.
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Al-Hassan, M, Lu, H & Lu, J 2015, 'A semantic enhanced hybrid recommendation approach: A case study of e-Government tourism service recommendation system', DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS, vol. 72, pp. 97-109.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V.All rights reserved. Recommender systems are effectively used as a personalized information filtering technology to automatically predict and identify a set of interesting items on behalf of users according to their personal needs and preferences. Collaborative Filtering (CF) approach is commonly used in the context of recommender systems; however, obtaining better prediction accuracy and overcoming the main limitations of the standard CF recommendation algorithms, such as sparsity and cold-start item problems, remain a significant challenge. Recent developments in personalization and recommendation techniques support the use of semantic enhanced hybrid recommender systems, which incorporate ontology-based semantic similarity measure with other recommendation approaches to improve the quality of recommendations. Consequently, this paper presents the effectiveness of utilizing semantic knowledge of items to enhance the recommendation quality. It proposes a new Inferential Ontology-based Semantic Similarity (IOBSS) measure to evaluate semantic similarity between items in a specific domain of interest by taking into account their explicit hierarchical relationships, shared attributes and implicit relationships. The paper further proposes a hybrid semantic enhanced recommendation approach by combining the new IOBSS measure and the standard item-based CF approach. A set of experiments with promising results validates the effectiveness of the proposed hybrid approach, using a case study of the Australian e-Government tourism services.
Almabrok, MH, McLaughlan, RG & Vessalas, K 2015, 'Effect of Curing and Mixing Methods on the Compressive Strength of Mortar Containing Oil', Journal of Civil Engineering, Science and Technology, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 6-11.
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Oil contaminated fine aggregate is a major environmental concern and can arise as a by product of industrial activities (e.g. oil well drilling and land contamination). Cement–based stabilisation/solidification of oil contaminated materials is an emerging technology however there are some issues that have not been fully addressed. This paper reports the results of a study conducted to investigate the effect of different curing and mixing methods on cement solidification and its consequent effect on the compressive strength of the resultant cementitious product. This work has been done to address leaching concerns during the curing period. The normal curing method for samples to be tested for compressive strength is lime saturated water. However, this method invalidates any subsequent leaching tests. Accordingly, bag curing (BC) and lime saturated water curing (LSW) have been applied using mortar mixed with mineral oil up to 10% by sand mass under water wet (WW) or oil wet (OW) mixing methods. The results indicate that development in 28 day compressive strength can be achieved without applying water by external means if the moisture movement from the mortar samples is prohibited, irrespective of the mixing methods used.
Al-Mahmoud, F, Castel, A, Minh, TQ & François, R 2015, 'Reinforced Concrete Beams Strengthened with NSM CFRP Rods in Shear', Advances in Structural Engineering, vol. 18, no. 10, pp. 1563-1574.
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This experimental research aims to investigate the possibility of using Carbon Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (CFRP) rods to strengthen in shear concrete structural members with the Near Surface Mounted reinforcement (NSM) technique. Seven reinforced concrete beams were tested in flexure with or without traditional shear reinforcement. Carbon-epoxy pultruded FRP (CFRP) rods with 6 mm in diameter were used. The possibility of using a mortar as filling material with surface pre-conditioned CFRP rod is investigated and compared to resin performance. Results show that NSM technique is very efficient to strengthen reinforced concrete beam in shear. Using the resin instead of mortar as the filling material still increases the efficiency of the shear strengthening but the gain is only moderate. The experimental results are compared with existing analytical models.
Al-sharif, AAA & Pradhan, B 2015, 'A novel approach for predicting the spatial patterns of urban expansion by combining the chi-squared automatic integration detection decision tree, Markov chain and cellular automata models in GIS', Geocarto International, vol. 30, no. 8, pp. 858-881.
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Alsharif, AAA, Pradhan, B, Mansor, S & Shafri, HZM 2015, 'Urban expansion assessment by using remotely sensed data and the relative Shannon entropy model in GIS: A case study of Tripoli, Libya', Theoretical and Empirical Researches in Urban Management, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 55-71.
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Urban growth is a spatial dynamic phenomenon that indicates population growth, economic expansion, city importance level, and so on. The use of current and historical data in urbanization analysis is necessary in urban spatial studies and future urban planning. This research aims to study, examine, and assess the urban expansion of Tripoli spatially and temporally by using remotely sensed data, geographic information systems (GIS), and the statistical relative Shannon entropy model. Remotely sensed data (four satellite images from 1984, 1996, 2002, and 2010) and GIS were used to determine the extent of urban area and urban growth in Tripoli in five different directions. Shannon’s entropy model was implemented to analyze and assess urban expansion trends as a process and pattern in the study area. Results show that the Tripoli metropolitan area has a high level of sprawl along its urban expansion history. The hypothesis employed for Shannon’s entropy zone division produces good insights on overall urban growth, urban growth direction, and specific urban growth over time. The obtained results provide good guidance for modeling urban sprawl processes, understanding urbanization causative factors, and predicting future urban patterns. Furthermore, the findings of current paper can be used by decision makers and urban planners to identify past and present urban expansions tendencies to prepare for future urban demands.
Altaee, A & Hilal, N 2015, 'Design optimization of high performance dual stage pressure retarded osmosis', Desalination, vol. 355, pp. 217-224.
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© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Dual stage PRO process was proposed for power generation. The present study evaluated two design configurations of the dual stage PRO process. The old dual stage PRO design was modified to enhance the process performance. In the new design, the entire seawater flow from the first stage goes to the second stage to increase the second stage membrane flux. Seawater salinities between 32. g/L and 45. g/L were tested to investigate the effect of draw solution TDS on the process performance. The results showed that PRO process performed better at higher seawater salinity. Furthermore, the performance of the new dual stage PRO design was higher than that of the old dual stage PRO process. Power density in the new dual stage PRO design was 17.4% higher than that in the old dual stage PRO design. Mainly, this was attributed to the higher membrane flux in the modified PRO design. It was also found that the specific power consumption of the new PRO design was about 8% less than that of the old PRO design. Finally, the results also showed that for a given plant capacity, the membrane elements required in the new PRO design were less than that in the old PRO design. As such, the proposed new design would be suggested for power generation for being more efficient and at cheaper cost.
Altaee, A & Hilal, N 2015, 'High recovery rate NF–FO–RO hybrid system for inland brackish water treatment', Desalination, vol. 363, pp. 19-25.
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© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Brackish water desalination is a common method for fresh water supply in arid areas. Concentrated brine is the major waste stream generated from the desalination process. The current study proposes a multi-stage Nanofiltration (NF)-Forward Osmosis (FO)-Brackish Water Reverse Osmosis (BWRO) system to increase the recovery rate of brackish water. The simulation results showed that the NF-FO-BWRO system was able to achieve >. 90% recovery rate for a number of feed salinities varied from 1 to 2.4. g/L. High permeability NF membrane was used in the first stage to produce the first permeate flow at relatively low power consumption. Concentrated brine from the NF was fed to an FO membrane for power for additional fresh water extraction before disposal. 0.25-0.5. M NaCl was used as the draw solution in the FO membrane. The results showed that system recovery rate increased with increasing the concentration of the draw solution. NF process was responsible of 75% of the total recovery rate while BWRO process contribution was up to 20%. Almost 80% of the total power consumption for desalination was due to the BWRO process. NF and FO processes accounted for the rest 20% power consumption. The BWRO system also required 2 to 3 times more membranes than FO and NF processes. NF-FO-BWRO is flexible and can generate different proportions of permeate flows through controlling the recovery rates of each component.
Altaee, A & Sharif, A 2015, 'A conceptual NF/RO arrangement design in the pressure vessel for seawater desalination', Desalination and Water Treatment, vol. 54, no. 3, pp. 624-636.
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© 2014, © 2014 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved. Abstract: The main objective of this study is to understand the operation mechanisms of reverse osmosis (RO) membrane and optimization of the operating mechanisms of the RO system in order to reduce the membrane fouling and/or energy requirements. Typically, the high-pressure RO membrane vessel is loaded with membrane elements having the same flux and salt rejection rate. It has been conceived that when different types of RO elements are loaded into the pressure vessel in a special arrangement according to their permeability and salt rejection rate, this arrangement has the potential for reducing the energy consumption of the RO plant. Here, a conceptual design is introduced to describe this new idea. The effects of feed salinity and temperature were investigated in this paper using the reverse osmosis system analysis filmtec membrane design software. A two pass membrane treatment process was designed for desalting seawater at different salinities varied from 35,000 ppm to 43,000 ppm. The results showed a net energy saving from 2.5 to 3% (depends on the feed salinity) could be achieved. The effect of the feed temperature was also investigated, and the new design was found to be more energy efficient. Membrane scaling was also investigated in this study, and it was found that the new membrane arrangement design was less efficient than old design at feed salinity 35,000 ppm and vice versa at feed salinity 45,000 ppm. This was attributed to the use of high membranes permeabilities in the new design.
Altaee, A & Sharif, A 2015, 'Pressure retarded osmosis: advancement in the process applications for power generation and desalination', Desalination, vol. 356, pp. 31-46.
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© 2014 Elsevier B.V. The current study highlights the advancement in Pressure Retarded Osmosis (PRO) process and covers most recent development in the process applications. The first application of PRO process goes back to 1973 by Sidney Loeb who suggested using the concept of osmotic energy for power generation. In principle, two solutions of different concentrations are separated by semipermeable membrane of, relatively, high water permeability and solute rejection rate. The high-concentration solution is usually known as the draw solution while the low-concentration solution is called the feed solution. The draw solution is pressurized before entering the membrane. Due to the osmotic pressure gradient across the membrane, fresh water transports in the direction of the osmotic pressure gradients resulting in the dilution of the high-concentration solution. After leaving the membrane, the diluted draw solution is depressurized in a turbine system for power generation. Different types of membrane materials and solute gradient resources were proposed and their impact on the performance of PRO process was investigated. In addition to power generation, the hybridization of PRO process with membrane and thermal processes for power generation and seawater desalination is not unusual nowadays. The current study provides a critical review about the recent advancements in the PRO process and research outcomes.
Altaee, A, Sharif, A, Zaragoza, G & Ismail, AF 2015, 'Evaluation of FO-RO and PRO-RO designs for power generation and seawater desalination using impaired water feeds', Desalination, vol. 368, pp. 27-35.
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Crown Copyright © 2014 Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. PRO and FO coupling with an RO membrane process is proposed to reduce the cost of seawater desalination and the potential for power generation. Three conceptual design configurations, PRO-RO, FO-RO and RO-PRO were evaluated here using standard seawater concentration and impaired water as the draw and the feed solutions respectively. The PRO-RO and RO-PRO designs were evaluated for power generation and seawater desalination while the FO-RO design was proposed for seawater desalination only. The impact of the draw and feed solutions' flow rate and the impaired water TDS on the performance of each design was estimated using pre-developed software. The simulation results showed that the performance of all designs was more sensitive to the increase in the flow rate of draw solution than to the flow rate of feed solution. Furthermore, all designs showed a decrease in membrane flux and recovery rate with increasing the TDS of feed water from 0.2 g/L to 10 g/L as a result of decreasing the net driving force across the membrane and the concentration polarization phenomenon. The FO-RO design produced the lowest RO permeate concentration followed by the PRO-RO and RO-PRO designs respectively. In terms of power generation, the RO-PRO design was more efficient than the PRO-RO design. The FO-RO design exhibited the lowest desalination power consumption followed by the PRO-RO and RO-PRO designs respectively. At 10 g/L feed concentration, the net power consumption in the FO-RO was 9.4% less than that in the PRO-RO which was in turn 5.3% less than that in the RO-PRO design. The estimated cost of the FO/PRO module in the PRO-RO design was 2.2 and 4.3 times higher than that in the FO-RO and RO-PRO designs respectively.
Althuwaynee, OF, Pradhan, B & Ahmad, N 2015, 'Estimation of rainfall threshold and its use in landslide hazard mapping of Kuala Lumpur metropolitan and surrounding areas', Landslides, vol. 12, no. 5, pp. 861-875.
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Alvandi, S, Bienert, G, Li, W & Kara, S 2015, 'Hierarchical Modelling of Complex Material and Energy Flow in Manufacturing Systems', Procedia CIRP, vol. 29, pp. 92-97.
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Alzoubi, YI, Gill, AQ & Al-Ani, A 2015, 'Distributed Agile Development Communication: An Agile Architecture Driven Framework.', J. Softw., vol. 10, no. 6, pp. 681-694.
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Agile methods depend on active communication and effective knowledge sharing among team
members for producing high quality working software systems in short releases and iterations. However,
effective communication in Distributed Agile Development (DAD) can be challenging due to a number of
different factors, such as physical locations, multi-cultures and time-zones. The agile body of knowledge
mainly discusses some technology and non-technology solutions and strategies to mitigate the DAD
communication challenges from a project management perspective. Nevertheless, it has recently been
argued that there is a need to understand and analyze DAD communication from other related but different
perspectives, such as enterprise strategy, enterprise architecture and service management. Due to the fact
that agile EA provides a holistic view and blueprint of the whole environment in which a number of projects
are developed and managed, we attempt in this study to explore the effect of agile Enterprise Architecture
(EA) on DAD communication. Particularly, we propose the development of an agile EA driven approach from
the architecture body of knowledge for handling the DAD communication challenges that have not been
thoroughly investigated before
AMARJARGAL, A, TIJING, LD & KIM, CS 2015, 'Simple fabrication of Ag nanoparticle-impregnated electrospun nanofibres as SERS substrates', Bulletin of Materials Science, vol. 38, no. 1, pp. 267-270.
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Ambainis, A, Balodis, K, Belovs, A, Lee, T, Santha, M & Smotrovs, J 2015, 'Separations in Query Complexity Based on Pointer Functions', Journal of the ACM, vol. 64, no. 5.
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In 1986, Saks and Wigderson conjectured that the largest separation betweendeterministic and zero-error randomized query complexity for a total booleanfunction is given by the function $f$ on $n=2^k$ bits defined by a completebinary tree of NAND gates of depth $k$, which achieves $R_0(f) =O(D(f)^{0.7537\ldots})$. We show this is false by giving an example of a totalboolean function $f$ on $n$ bits whose deterministic query complexity is$\Omega(n/\log(n))$ while its zero-error randomized query complexity is $\tildeO(\sqrt{n})$. We further show that the quantum query complexity of the samefunction is $\tilde O(n^{1/4})$, giving the first example of a total functionwith a super-quadratic gap between its quantum and deterministic querycomplexities. We also construct a total boolean function $g$ on $n$ variables that haszero-error randomized query complexity $\Omega(n/\log(n))$ and bounded-errorrandomized query complexity $R(g) = \tilde O(\sqrt{n})$. This is the firstsuper-linear separation between these two complexity measures. The exactquantum query complexity of the same function is $Q_E(g) = \tilde O(\sqrt{n})$. These two functions show that the relations $D(f) = O(R_1(f)^2)$ and $R_0(f)= \tilde O(R(f)^2)$ are optimal, up to poly-logarithmic factors. Furthervariations of these functions give additional separations between other querycomplexity measures: a cubic separation between $Q$ and $R_0$, a $3/2$-powerseparation between $Q_E$ and $R$, and a 4th power separation betweenapproximate degree and bounded-error randomized query complexity. All of these examples are variants of a function recently introduced by\goos, Pitassi, and Watson which they used to separate the unambiguous1-certificate complexity from deterministic query complexity and to resolve thefamous Clique versus Independent Set problem in communication complexity.
An, L & Lu, DD-C 2015, 'Design of a Single-Switch DC/DC Converter for a PV-Battery-Powered Pump System With PFM+PWM Control', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 910-921.
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© 2014 IEEE. A single-switch nonisolated dc/dc converter for a stand-alone photovoltaic (PV)-battery-powered pump system is proposed in this paper. The converter is formed by combining a buck converter with a buck-boost converter. This integration also resulted in reduced repeated power processing, hence improving the conversion efficiency. With only a single transistor, the converter is able to perform three tasks simultaneously, namely, maximum-power-point tracking (MPPT), battery charging, and driving the pump at constant flow rate. To achieve these control objectives, the two inductors operate in different modes such that variable switching frequency control and duty cycle control can be used to manage MPPT and output voltage regulation, respectively. The battery in the converter provides a more steady dc-link voltage as compared to that of a conventional single-stage converter and hence mitigates the high voltage stress problem. Experimental results of a 14-W laboratory prototype converter with a maximum efficiency of 92% confirmed the performance of the proposed converter when used in a PV-battery pump system.
An, X, Gao, Y, Fang, J, Sun, G & Li, Q 2015, 'Crashworthiness design for foam-filled thin-walled structures with functionally lateral graded thickness sheets', Thin-Walled Structures, vol. 91, pp. 63-71.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved. Crash components in automobiles are probably subjected to multiple loading conditions in real life, such as axial crushing and lateral bending. Unlike most of the existing work that solely focuses on the pure axial crushing or lateral bending, this paper attempts to accommodate both by proposing a novel structure, namely foam-filled thin-wall tube with functionally lateral graded thickness (FLGT). From numerical study of FLGT structures, they are found to exhibit noticeable advantage over the corresponding traditional uniform thickness (UT) structures with the same weight under both axial crushing and lateral bending. Moreover, the gradient governing the varying thickness shows significant influence on the crashworthiness performance of FLGT. To seek for the optimal gradient, a multi-objective optimization is carried out using multi-objective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm, where response surface models are established to formulate the objectives functions, i.e. specific energy absorption (SEA) and peak impact force (Fpeak). The optimization results show that the foam-filled structure with FLGT can produce more promising Pareto solutions than traditional UT counterparts. Therefore, the FLGT structure could have potential applications subjected to different loading conditions.
Anaissi, A, Goyal, M, Catchpoole, DR, Braytee, A & Kennedy, PJ 2015, 'Case-Based Retrieval Framework for Gene Expression Data', Cancer Informatics, vol. 14, pp. CIN.S22371-CIN.S22371.
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Background The process of retrieving similar cases in a case-based reasoning system is considered a big challenge for gene expression data sets. The huge number of gene expression values generated by microarray technology leads to complex data sets and similarity measures for high-dimensional data are problematic. Hence, gene expression similarity measurements require numerous machine-learning and data-mining techniques, such as feature selection and dimensionality reduction, to be incorporated into the retrieval process. Methods This article proposes a case-based retrieval framework that uses a k-nearest-neighbor classifier with a weighted-feature-based similarity to retrieve previously treated patients based on their gene expression profiles. Results The herein-proposed methodology is validated on several data sets: a childhood leukemia data set collected from The Children's Hospital at Westmead, as well as the Colon cancer, the National Cancer Institute (NCI), and the Prostate cancer data sets. Results obtained by the proposed framework in retrieving patients of the data sets who are similar to new patients are as follows: 96% accuracy on the childhood leukemia data set, 95% on the NCI data set, 93% on the Colon cancer data set, and 98% on the Prostate cancer data set. Conclusion The designed case-based retrieval framework is an appropriate choice for retrieving previous patients who are similar to a new patient, on the basis of their gene expression data, for better diagnosis and treatment of childhood leukemia. Moreover, this framework can be applied to other gene expression data sets using some or all of its steps.
Andersson, AK, Ma, J, Wang, J, Chen, X, Gedman, AL, Dang, J, Nakitandwe, J, Holmfeldt, L, Parker, M, Easton, J, Huether, R, Kriwacki, R, Rusch, M, Wu, G, Li, Y, Mulder, H, Raimondi, S, Pounds, S, Kang, G, Shi, L, Becksfort, J, Gupta, P, Payne-Turner, D, Vadodaria, B, Boggs, K, Yergeau, D, Manne, J, Song, G, Edmonson, M, Nagahawatte, P, Wei, L, Cheng, C, Pei, D, Sutton, R, Venn, NC, Chetcuti, A, Rush, A, Catchpoole, D, Heldrup, J, Fioretos, T, Lu, C, Ding, L, Pui, C-H, Shurtleff, S, Mullighan, CG, Mardis, ER, Wilson, RK, Gruber, TA, Zhang, J, Downing, JR & Hosp-Washin, SJCR 2015, 'The landscape of somatic mutations in infant MLL-rearranged acute lymphoblastic leukemias', NATURE GENETICS, vol. 47, no. 4, pp. 330-U192.
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Infant acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) with MLL rearrangements (MLL-R) represents a distinct leukemia with a poor prognosis. To define its mutational landscape, we performed whole-genome, exome, RNA and targeted DNA sequencing on 65 infants (47 MLL-R and 18 non-MLL-R cases) and 20 older children (MLL-R cases) with leukemia. Our data show that infant MLL-R ALL has one of the lowest frequencies of somatic mutations of any sequenced cancer, with the predominant leukemic clone carrying a mean of 1.3 non-silent mutations. Despite this paucity of mutations, we detected activating mutations in kinase-PI3K-RAS signaling pathway components in 47% of cases. Surprisingly, these mutations were often subclonal and were frequently lost at relapse. In contrast to infant cases, MLL-R leukemia in older children had more somatic mutations (mean of 6.5 mutations/case versus 1.3 mutations/case, P = 7.15 × 10(-5)) and had frequent mutations (45%) in epigenetic regulators, a category of genes that, with the exception of MLL, was rarely mutated in infant MLL-R ALL.
Andrews, T, Dyson, LE & Wishart, J 2015, 'Advancing ethics frameworks and scenario-based learning to support educational research into mobile learning', International Journal of Research & Method in Education, vol. 38, no. 3, pp. 320-334.
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Angelini, L, Lalanne, D, Hoven, E, Khaled, O & Mugellini, E 2015, 'Move, Hold and Touch: A Framework for Tangible Gesture Interactive Systems', Machines, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 173-207.
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Technology is spreading in our everyday world, and digital interaction beyond the screen, with real objects, allows taking advantage of our natural manipulative and communicative skills. Tangible gesture interaction takes advantage of these skills by bridging two popular domains in Human-Computer Interaction, tangible interaction and gestural interaction. In this paper, we present the Tangible Gesture Interaction Framework (TGIF) for classifying and guiding works in this field. We propose a classification of gestures according to three relationships with objects: move, hold and touch. Following this classification, we analyzed previous work in the literature to obtain guidelines and common practices for designing and building new tangible gesture interactive systems. We describe four interactive systems as application examples of the TGIF guidelines and we discuss the descriptive, evaluative and generative power of TGIF.
Ansari, AJ, Hai, FI, Guo, W, Ngo, HH, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Selection of forward osmosis draw solutes for subsequent integration with anaerobic treatment to facilitate resource recovery from wastewater', Bioresource Technology, vol. 191, pp. 30-36.
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Aquilina, P, Parr, WCH, Chamoli, U & Wroe, S 2015, 'Finite Element Analysis of Patient-Specific Condyle Fracture Plates: A Preliminary Study', Craniomaxillofacial Trauma & Reconstruction, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 111-116.
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Various patterns of internal fixation of mandibular condyle fractures have been proposed in the literature. This study investigates the stability of two patient-specific implants (PSIs) for the open reduction and internal fixation of a subcondylar fracture of the mandible. A subcondylar fracture of a mandible was simulated by a series of finite element models. These models contained approximately 1.2 million elements, were heterogeneous in bone material properties, and also modeled the muscles of mastication. Models were run assuming linear elasticity and isotropic material properties for bone. The stability and von Mises stresses of the simulated condylar fracture reduced with each of the PSIs were compared. The most stable of the plate configurations examined was PSI 1, which had comparable mechanical performance to a single 2.0 mm straight four-hole plate.
Arbab, MI, Varman, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Imtenan, S, Sajjad, H & Rizwanul Fattah, IM 2015, 'Evaluation of combustion, performance, and emissions of optimum palm–coconut blend in turbocharged and non-turbocharged conditions of a diesel engine', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 90, pp. 111-120.
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Fossil fuel depletion, global warming with rapid changes in climate, and increases in oil prices have motivated scientists to search for alternative fuel. Biodiesel can be an effective solution despite some limitations, such as poor fuel properties and engine performance. From this perspective, experiments were carried out to improve fuel properties and engine performance by using a binary blend of palm and coconut biodiesel at an optimized ratio. MATLAB optimization tool was used to determine this blend ratio. A new biodiesel was developed and represented by PC (optimum blend of palm and coconut biodiesel). Engine performance and emission were tested under a full load at variable speed condition by using a 20% blend of each biodiesel with petroleum diesel, and the results were compared with petroleum diesel under both turbocharged and non-turbocharged conditions. PC20 (blend of 20% PC biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel) showed the highest engine power with lower brake-specific fuel consumption than the other tested fuels in the presence of a turbocharger. The emissions of PC20 were lower than those of all other tested fuels. The experimental analysis reveals that PC showed superior performance and emission over palm biodiesel blend.
Argha, A, Li, L, Su, SW & Nguyen, H 2015, 'Controllability Analysis of Two-Dimensional Systems Using 1D Approaches', IEEE Transactions on Automatic Control, vol. 60, no. 11, pp. 2977-2982.
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© 1963-2012 IEEE. Working with the 1D form of 2D systems is an alternative strategy to reduce the inherent complexity of 2D systems. To achieve the 1D form of 2D systems, different from the so-called WAM model, a new row (column) process was proposed recently. The controllability analysis of this new 1D form is explored in this note. Two new notions of controllability named WAM-controllability and directional controllability for the underlying 2D systems are defined. Corresponding conditions on the WAM-controllability and directional controllability are derived, which are particularly useful for the control problems of 2D systems via 1D framework. According to the presented directional controllability, a directional minimum energy control input is derived for 2D systems. A numerical example demonstrates the applicability of the presented analysis.
Armaghani, DJ, Momeni, E, Abad, SVANK & Khandelwal, M 2015, 'Feasibility of ANFIS model for prediction of ground vibrations resulting from quarry blasting', Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 74, no. 4, pp. 2845-2860.
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Arslan, A, Masjuki, HH, Varman, M, Kalam, MA, Quazi, MM, Al Mahmud, KAH, Gulzar, M & Habibullah, M 2015, 'Effects of texture diameter and depth on the tribological performance of DLC coating under lubricated sliding condition', Applied Surface Science, vol. 356, pp. 1135-1149.
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Aryal, R, Furumai, H, Nakajima, F, Beecham, S & Kandasamy, J 2015, 'Characterisation of Prolonged Deposits of Organic Matter in Infiltration System Inlets and Their Binding with Heavy Metals: a PARAFAC Approach', Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, vol. 226, no. 6.
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Aryal, R, Lee, B-K, Beecham, S, Kandasamy, J, Aryal, N & Parajuli, K 2015, 'Characterisation of Road Dust Organic Matter as a Function of Particle Size: A PARAFAC Approach', Water, Air, & Soil Pollution, vol. 226, no. 2.
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Asadnia, M, Kottapalli, AGP, Miao, J, Warkiani, ME & Triantafyllou, MS 2015, 'Artificial fish skin of self-powered micro-electromechanical systems hair cells for sensing hydrodynamic flow phenomena', Journal of The Royal Society Interface, vol. 12, no. 111, pp. 20150322-20150322.
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Using biological sensors, aquatic animals like fishes are capable of performing impressive behaviours such as super-manoeuvrability, hydrodynamic flow ‘vision’ and object localization with a success unmatched by human-engineered technologies. Inspired by the multiple functionalities of the ubiquitous lateral-line sensors of fishes, we developed flexible and surface-mountable arrays of micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) artificial hair cell flow sensors. This paper reports the development of the MEMS artificial versions of superficial and canal neuromasts and experimental characterization of their unique flow-sensing roles. Our MEMS flow sensors feature a stereolithographically fabricated polymer hair cell mounted on Pb(Zr0.52Ti0.48)O3micro-diaphragm with floating bottom electrode. Canal-inspired versions are developed by mounting a polymer canal with pores that guide external flows to the hair cells embedded in the canal. Experimental results conducted employing our MEMS artificial superficial neuromasts (SNs) demonstrated a high sensitivity and very low threshold detection limit of 22 mV/(mm s−1) and 8.2 µm s−1, respectively, for an oscillating dipole stimulus vibrating at 35 Hz. Flexible arrays of such superficial sensors were demonstrated to localize an underwater dipole stimulus. Comparative experimental studies revealed a high-pass filtering nature of the canal encapsulated sensors with a cut-off frequency of 10 Hz and a flat frequency response of artificial SNs. Flexible arrays of self-powered, miniaturized, light-weight, low-cost and robust artificial lateral-line systems could enhance the capabilities of underwater vehicles.
Ashby, K, Eager, D, D'Elia, A & Day, L 2015, 'Influence of voluntary standards and design modifications on trampoline injury in Victoria, Australia', Injury Prevention, vol. 21, no. 5, pp. 314-319.
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PurposeTo examine the influence of the voluntary Australian trampoline standard (AS 4989-2006) and market-driven design modifications on relevant trampoline injuries.MethodsTrend and intervention analysis on frequencies and proportions of hospital-treated trampoline-related injury in Victoria, Australia, extracted from the Victorian Emergency Minimum Dataset from 1 July 1999 to 30 June 2013. The injuries relevant to theASwere contact with spring and frame, and multiple-user injury. Falls from trampolines were relevant for netted trampolines, a market-driven modification.ResultsFrequency of all trampoline injuries increased by 11.4% (95% CI 10.0% to 11.7%) on average each year. Spring and frame, and fall injuries increased to a lesser extent (8.7%, 95% CI 6.9% to 9.8% and 7.3%, 95% CI 5.8% to 8.3%, respectively). Multiple-user injuries increased by 21.0% (95% CI 16.3% to 21.9%). As a proportion of all trampoline injuries, spring and frame injury and falls injury decreased, while multiple-user injuries increased. The intervention analysis showed no significant change in spring and frame injuries associated with the AS (p=0.17). A significant increase was found for multiple-user injuries (p=0.01), in particular for the 0-year to 4-year age group (p<0.0001), post 2007.ConclusionsThere was little evidence for an effect of the voluntary standard on spring and frame injury and none for multiple-user injury. Netted trampolines appear to be associated with a decrease in falls from trampolines but an increase in injuries to multiple users. A mandated trampoline safety standard and a safety campaign including warnings about multiple users is recommended. Continued monitoring of in...
Ashby, K, Pointer, S, Eager, D & Day, L 2015, 'Australian trampoline injury patterns and trends', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, vol. 39, no. 5, pp. 491-494.
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© 2015 Public Health Association of Australia. Objectives: To examine national trampoline injury patterns and trends in the context of improved product safety standards and trampoline design modifications. Method: Review of National Hospital Morbidity data. Results: There were an average 1,737 trampoline injuries reported nationally each year from 2002 to 2011. Both injury frequency and rate grew. Statistically significant rate increases were observed among all age groups, although both are highest among children aged 5-9 years. From 2008/09 there is a possible decreasing trend among the 5-9 age group. Falls predominate and 81% of falls result in fracture. Non-fall injuries increased annually as a proportion of all hospitalised injury although they did not comprise more than 2.4% in any one year. Conclusions: History provides no evidence of an observable effect of voluntary Australian Standards for trampoline safety on population rates for trampoline injury. The major design modification - netted enclosures - could contribute to the risk of injury by leading parents to falsely believe that a netted enclosure eradicates the risk of injury.
Ashraf, J, Chang, E, Hussain, OK & Hussain, FK 2015, 'Ontology usage analysis in the ontology lifecycle: A state-of-the-art review', KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS, vol. 80, pp. 34-47.
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Ashraf, J, Hussain, OK & Hussain, FK 2015, 'Making sense from Big RDF Data: OUSAF for measuring ontology usage', Software: Practice and Experience, vol. 45, no. 8, pp. 1051-1071.
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SummaryRecent growth and advancements in the Semantic Web have shifted the research focus from being knowledge‐centered to data‐centered. This has led to the increased use of ontologies to structurally represent the data, thereby generating huge amounts of RDF data, which we term Big RDF Data. Nevertheless, the literature lacks the tools to analyze Big RDF Data and make sense of it. Access to such tools would enable pragmatic inputs and insights for users in respect of such tasks as the usage and adoption of Ontologies, their uptake by different users in the community, and the identification of prevalent patterns. This analysis, which we term Ontology Usage, is important from the viewpoint of users who need informed inputs in the various stages of the ontology engineering lifecycle, such as ontology evolution, ontology population, and ontology deployment. In this paper, we propose the Ontology USage Analysis F̌ramework (OUSAF), which performs analysis of Ontology Usage on Big RDF Data and synthesizes the usage knowledge acquired. OUSAF provides a methodological approach to performing the various phases such as identifying, analyzing, representing, and utilizing the Ontology usage results from Big RDF Data. We describe in detail each of those phases and the metrics required to perform the analysis of each phase. The utilization of the OUSAF results obtained by users such as data publishers and ontology developers is demonstrated by a dataset collected in the e‐business domain. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Ashraful, AM, Masjuki, HH & Kalam, MA 2015, 'Particulate matter, carbon emissions and elemental compositions from a diesel engine exhaust fuelled with diesel–biodiesel blends', Atmospheric Environment, vol. 120, pp. 463-474.
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Aslani, F, Nejadi, S & Samali, B 2015, 'Instantaneous and time-dependent flexural cracking models of reinforced self-compacting concrete slabs with and without fibres', COMPUTERS AND CONCRETE, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 223-243.
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© 2015 Techno-Press, Ltd. Self-compacting concrete (SCC) can be placed and compacted under its own weight with little or no compaction. It is cohesive enough to be handled without segregation or bleeding. Modifications in the mix design of SCC may significantly influence the material's mechanical properties. Therefore, it is vital to investigate whether all the assumed hypotheses about conventional concrete (CC) are also valid for SCC structures. The aim in this paper is to develop analytical models for flexural cracking that describe in appropriate detail the observed cracking behaviour of the reinforced concrete flexural one way slabs tested. The crack width and crack spacing calculation procedures outlined in five international codes, namely Eurocode 2 (1991), CEB-FIP (1990), ACI318-99 (1999), Eurocode 2 (2004), and fib-Model Code (2010), are presented and crack widths and crack spacing are accordingly calculated. Then, the results are compared with the proposed analytical models and the measured experimental values, and discussed in detail.
Athukorala, R, Indraratna, B & Vinod, JS 2015, 'Disturbed State Concept-Based Constitutive Model for Lignosulfonate-Treated Silty Sand', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 04015002-04015002.
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Atif, A, Richards, D, Busch, P & Bilgin, A 2015, 'Assuring graduate competency: a technology acceptance model for course guide tools', Journal of Computing in Higher Education, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 94-113.
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Azadeh, A, Asadzadeh, SM, Mirseraji, GH & Saberi, M 2015, 'An emotional learning-neuro-fuzzy inference approach for optimum training and forecasting of gas consumption estimation models with cognitive data', Technological Forecasting and Social Change, vol. 91, pp. 47-63.
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Azadeh, A, Saberi, M, Rouzbahman, M & Valianpour, F 2015, 'A neuro-fuzzy algorithm for assessment of health, safety, environment and ergonomics in a large petrochemical plant', Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, vol. 34, pp. 100-114.
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Azadeh, A, Zia, NP, Saberi, M, Hussain, FK, Yoon, JH, Hussain, OK & Sadri, S 2015, 'A trust-based performance measurement modeling using t-norm and t-conorm operators', APPLIED SOFT COMPUTING, vol. 30, pp. 491-500.
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Azari, B, Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 2015, 'Numerical analysis of vertical drains accelerated consolidation considering combined soil disturbance and visco-plastic behaviour', GEOMECHANICS AND ENGINEERING, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 187-220.
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© 2015 Techno-Press, Ltd. Soil disturbance induced by installation of mandrel driven vertical drains decreases the in situ horizontal hydraulic conductivity of the soil in the vicinity of the drains, decelerating the consolidation rate. According to available literature, several different profiles for the hydraulic conductivity variation with the radial distance from the vertical drain, influencing the excess pore water pressure dissipation rate, have been identified. In addition, it is well known that the visco-plastic properties of the soil also influence the excess pore water pressure dissipation rate and consequently the settlement rate. In this study, a numerical solution adopting an elastic visco-plastic model with nonlinear creep function incorporated in the consolidation equations has been developed to investigate the effects of disturbed zone properties on the time dependent behaviour of soft soil deposits improved with vertical drains and preloading. The employed elastic visco-plastic model is based on the framework of the modified Cam-Clay model capturing soil creep during excess pore water pressure dissipation. Besides, nonlinear variations of creep coefficient with stress and time and permeability variations during the consolidation process are considered. The predicted results have been compared with Väsby test fill measurements. According to the results, different variations of the hydraulic conductivity profile in the disturbed zone result in varying excess pore water pressure dissipation rate and consequently varying the effective vertical stresses in the soil profile. Thus, the creep coefficient and the creep strain limit are notably influenced resulting in significant changes in the predicted settlement rate.
Azim, MI, Hossain, MJ & Pota, HR 2015, 'Design of a Controller for Active Power Sharing in a Highly-Resistive Microgrid', IFAC-PapersOnLine, vol. 48, no. 30, pp. 288-293.
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Azzi, M, Duc, H & Ha, QP 2015, 'Toward sustainable energy usage in the power generation and construction sectors—a case study of Australia', Automation in Construction, vol. 59, pp. 122-127.
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Bailo, F 2015, 'Mapping online political talks through network analysis: a case study of the website of Italy's Five Star Movement', Policy Studies, vol. 36, no. 6, pp. 550-572.
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Bakker, S, Hausen, D, van den Hoven, E & Selker, T 2015, 'Preface: Designing for peripheral interaction: Seamlessly integrating interactive technology in everyday life', Interaction Design and Architecture(s), vol. 26, no. 1, pp. 3-5.
Bakker, S, van den Hoven, E & Eggen, B 2015, 'Evaluating Peripheral Interaction Design', HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION, vol. 30, no. 6, pp. 473-506.
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Many actions in the physical world take place in the background or periphery of peoples attention. However interactions with computing technologies usually require focused attention. This paper explores the concept of peripheral interaction: physical interaction with technology that takes place outside the focus of attention. A peripheral interaction design (called FireFlies), which supports primary school teachers in their everyday routine through open-ended light-objects on the childrens desks, was deployed in four classrooms for six weeks. Results of interviews and video analysis indicate that the six participating teachers were able to physically interact with the FireFlies interactive artefact quickly and frequently without disturbing ongoing tasks. In the final weeks of the study, the teachers seemed able to easily shift their focus of attention between their main task and the interactive system. We therefore conclude that, even though it is difficult to measure peoples attention, a longitudinal approach seemed effective to find indicators for peripheral interaction.
Bakker, S, van den Hoven, E & Eggen, B 2015, 'Peripheral interaction: characteristics and considerations', PERSONAL AND UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING, vol. 19, no. 1, pp. 239-254.
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In everyday life, we are able to perceive information and perform physical actions in the background or periphery of attention. Inspired by this observation, several researchers have studied interactive systems that display digital information in the periphery of attention. To broaden the scope of this research direction, a few recent studies have focused on interactive systems that cannot only be perceived in the background, but also enable users to physically interact with digital information in their periphery. Such peripheral interaction designs can support computing technology to fluently embed in, and become a meaningful part of peoples everyday routines. With the increasing ubiquity of technology in our everyday environment, we believe that this direction is highly relevant nowadays. This paper presents an in-depth analysis of three case studies on peripheral interaction. These case studies involved the design and development of peripheral interactive systems and deployment of these systems in the real context of use for a number of weeks. Based on the insights gained through these case studies, we discuss generalized characteristics and considerations for peripheral interaction design and evaluation. The aim of the work presented in this paper is to support interaction design researchers and practitioners in anticipating and facilitating peripheral interaction with the designs they are evaluating or developing.
Ban, H, Uy, B, Pathirana, SW, Henderson, I, Mirza, O & Zhu, X 2015, 'Time-dependent behaviour of composite beams with blind bolts under sustained loads', Journal of Constructional Steel Research, vol. 112, pp. 196-207.
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The use of blind bolts in steel-concrete composite beams is beneficial for promoting sustainable design and for retrofitting existing steel structures. This paper presents an experimental study as well as finite element (FE) modelling analyses for the time-dependent behaviour of composite beams with blind bolts subjected to sustained loads. Four full-scale simply supported beams utilising different types of bolts and studs were tested under long-term static loads. The mid-span deflections were monitored for a period of over 260 days. Short-term push-out tests were also carried out on the connectors used in the composite beams, and their slip deformation was recorded for determining the initial stiffness. The experimental results were modelled by using a three-dimensional FE model, in which the creep of the concrete was simulated through defining a viscoelastic response and the shrinkage of concrete was incorporated by means of notional thermal expansion. The FE model was validated against the experimental results reported herein and other independent results of composite beams using conventional welded studs reported elsewhere, and it was subsequently applied to carry out parametric studies. An extensive body of parameters was considered to clarify their effects on the time-dependent behaviour of composite beams with blind bolts, including the mechanical properties and configuration details of shear connectors, the concrete strength, the loading conditions, the span-to-depth ratio and the reinforcement ratio. It was demonstrated that the time-dependent behaviour was sensitive to the stiffness and the bolt-to-hole clearance of connectors, and some other parameters also possessed effects with different degrees. The research findings implied that using blind bolts in composite beams was beneficial to the time-dependent response due to their relatively lower deflections resulting from the creep and shrinkage of the concrete over time. The outcome may provid...
Ban, L, Huo, H & Xu, B 2015, 'Discovery of hot regions about crowd activities based on mobility data', Journal of University of Science and Technology of China, vol. 45, no. 10, pp. 829-835.
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Mobility data records the change of location and time about crowd activities, showing semantic knowledge about human mobility. From the perspective of regional semantic knowledge, mining the hot regions visited frequently by moving crowds is essential to understand regional characteristics in the smart city applications. This paper studied how to discover hot regions and how to constraint their coverage size. Based on an analysis of the location sequence of moving crowd, a discovery method for discovering hot regions based on kernel function was proposed. This discovery method uses the grid as a spatial data indexing structure and the Top- & sorting method. A discovery algorithm of hot regions was presented based on the discovery method. Finally, experimental results validate accurately the feasibility and effectiveness of the method on practical datasets.
Ban, Y & Chen, X 2015, 'Counter-diabatic driving for fast spin control in a two-electron double quantum dot', Scientific Reports, vol. 4, no. 1.
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Banasiak, LJ, Indraratna, B, Lugg, G, Pathirage, U, McIntosh, G & Rendell, N 2015, 'Permeable reactive barrier rejuvenation by alkaline wastewater', Environmental Geotechnics, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 45-55.
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Chemical armouring of recycled concrete in a permeable reactive barrier (PRB) used for the neutralisation of acidic groundwater in acid sulfate soil terrain significantly decreases its acid neutralising capacity (ANC) by approximately 50% compared with its theoretical ANC. A long-term column test was conducted under simulated field groundwater conditions to assess the re-conditioning of armoured recycled concrete aggregates with alkaline wastewater, with the aim to restore and enhance the ANC and longevity of the PRB. The benefits of alkaline wastewater injection included sharp but short enhancement of the recycled concretes’ ANC, as indicated by an increase in effluent pH (pH 3 to 7·7) and alkalinity (0 to 21·6 mM CaCO3) and a reduction in oxidation reduction potential (ORP, 530 to 160–200 mV). While the results showed that the alkaline wastewater did not significantly reduce chemical armouring, it aided in the liberation of lodged mineral precipitates between concrete aggregates, reducing the severity of chemical and physical clogging. Batch tests demonstrated that, when exposed to acidic water, the ANC of recycled concrete pre-conditioned with alkaline wastewater was enhanced as indicated by higher pH, lower ORP and greater release of calcium (Ca2+) and alkalinity, compared to non-pre-conditioned concrete.
Bandyopadhyay, S, Cosentino, A, Johnston, N, Russo, V, Watrous, J & Yu, N 2015, 'Limitations on Separable Measurements by Convex Optimization', IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 61, no. 6, pp. 3593-3604.
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© 1963-2012 IEEE. We prove limitations on LOCC and separable measurements in bipartite state discrimination problems using techniques from convex optimization. Specific results that we prove include: an exact formula for the optimal probability of correctly discriminating any set of either three or four Bell states via LOCC or separable measurements when the parties are given an ancillary partially entangled pair of qubits; an easily checkable characterization of when an unextendable product set is perfectly discriminated by separable measurements, along with the first known example of an unextendable product set that cannot be perfectly discriminated by separable measurements; and an optimal bound on the success probability for any LOCC or separable measurement for the recently proposed state discrimination problem of Yu, Duan, and Ying.
Bano, M & Zowghi, D 2015, 'A systematic review on the relationship between user involvement and system success', INFORMATION AND SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY, vol. 58, pp. 148-169.
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© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Context: For more than four decades it has been intuitively accepted that user involvement (UI) during system development lifecycle leads to system success. However when the researchers have evaluated the user involvement and system success (UI-SS) relationship empirically, the results were not always positive. Objective: Our objective was to explore the UI-SS relationship by synthesizing the results of all the studies that have empirically investigated this complex phenomenon. Method: We performed a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) following the steps provided in the guidelines of Evidence Based Software Engineering. From the resulting studies we extracted data to answer our 9 research questions related to the UI-SS relationship, identification of users, perspectives of UI, benefits, problems and challenges of UI, degree and level of UI, relevance of stages of software development lifecycle (SDLC) and the research method employed on the UI-SS relationship. Results: Our systematic review resulted in selecting 87 empirical studies published during the period 1980-2012. Among 87 studies reviewed, 52 reported that UI positively contributes to system success, 12 suggested a negative contribution and 23 were uncertain. The UI-SS relationship is neither direct nor binary, and there are various confounding factors that play their role. The identification of users, their degree/level of involvement, stage of SDLC for UI, and choice of research method have been claimed to have impact on the UI-SS relationship. However, there is not sufficient empirical evidence available to support these claims. Conclusion: Our results have revealed that UI does contribute positively to system success. But it is a double edged sword and if not managed carefully it may cause more problems than benefits. Based on the analysis of 87 studies, we were able to identify factors for effective management of UI alluding to the causes for inconsi...
Barnhill, E, Kennedy, P, Johnson, CL, Mada, M & Roberts, N 2015, 'Real‐time 4D phase unwrapping applied to magnetic resonance elastography', Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, vol. 73, no. 6, pp. 2321-2331.
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PurposePhase amplitude is a source of signal in magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) experiments but its exploitation in experimental design has been limited due to the challenges of phase wrap. This study addressed this aspect of MRE through new developments in algorithms, heuristic strategy, and user interface.MethodsA test dataset with systematic variation of three parameters—nested wrap, gradient, and noise level—was developed to choose phase‐unwrapping algorithms and to analyze their performance. A new application, PhaseTools, was developed that implemented three phase‐unwrapping algorithms that adhere to a “real‐time” criterion of less than 3 min for a four‐dimensional MRE acquisition. Two of the algorithms extend previously published algorithms and one was newly developed. The algorithms were then applied to five datasets from MRE, two typical cases and three edge cases that were particularly challenging in one of the three parameters.ResultsThe performance of the PhaseTools algorithms on the test dataset was comparable to two widely cited algorithms that take hours or days to complete. Guidelines for the optimal use of each algorithm are established.ConclusionPhaseTools enables the substantial increase of signal‐to‐noise in MRE experiments at negligible additional computational cost. PhaseTools is freely released with this study, making robust real‐time phase unwrapping available to any group using phase‐based imaging. Magn Reson Med 73:2321–2331, 2015. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Barthelmey, A, Lemmerz, K, Lenkenhoff, K, Brambach, T, Nuding, W, Deuse, J & Kuhlenkötter, B 2015, 'Digital representation in automationML - Automatic creation and provision of technical documentation', WT Werkstattstechnik, vol. 105, no. 11-12, pp. 843-848.
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This paper presents an approach to link technical documentation with design data of machinery and plants using the data exchange format AutomationML. Primarily scheduled for the exchange of design data the format will be expanded by documentation features and aspects. Due to the combination of documentation and design data an up to date virtual image of a cyber-physical production system is accomplished. This is an important partial step towards intelligent creation and usage of technical documentation.
Bastidas-Arteaga, E & Stewart, MG 2015, 'Damage risks and economic assessment of climate adaptation strategies for design of new concrete structures subject to chloride-induced corrosion', Structural Safety, vol. 52, no. PA, pp. 40-53.
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Reinforced concrete (RC) structures are subject to environmental actions affecting their performance, serviceability and safety. Among these actions, chloride ingress leads to corrosion initiation and its interaction with service loading could reduce its operational life. Experimental evidence indicates that chloride ingress is highly influenced by weather conditions in the surrounding environment and therefore by climate change. Consequently, both structural design and maintenance should be adapted to these new environmental conditions. This work focuses on the assessment of the costs and benefits of two climate adaptation strategies for new RC structures placed in chloride-contaminated environments under various climate change scenarios. Their cost-effectiveness is measured in terms of the benefit-to-cost ratio (BCR) and the probability that BCR exceeds unity - i.e., Pr(BCR. > 1). It was found that increasing concrete strength grade is more cost-effective than increasing design cover. The results also indicate that the cost-effectiveness of a given adaptation strategy depends mainly on the type of structural component, exposure conditions and climate change scenarios.
Bautista, MG, Dutkiewicz, E & Heimlich, M 2015, 'Subthreshold Energy Harvesters Circuits for Biomedical Implants Applications', Proceedings of the 10th EAI International Conference on Body Area Networks, vol. 16, no. 9, pp. 1-5.
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This paper reviews the state-of-art of the subthreshold level design energy harvesters for powering biomedical implants. Power consumption and lifespan are crucial requirements for the electronic circuitry of implantable systems. In order to meet these challenging requirements, a design for an energy harvester that operates in a subthreshold level offers a promising solution.
Beckers, A, Van Peer, G, Carter, DR, Gartlgruber, M, Herrmann, C, Agarwal, S, Helsmoortel, HH, Althoff, K, Molenaar, JJ, Cheung, BB, Schulte, JH, Benoit, Y, Shohet, JM, Westermann, F, Marshall, GM, Vandesompele, J, De Preter, K & Speleman, F 2015, 'MYCN-driven regulatory mechanisms controlling LIN28B in neuroblastoma', Cancer Letters, vol. 366, no. 1, pp. 123-132.
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Beckers, A, Van Peer, G, Carter, DR, Mets, E, Althoff, K, Cheung, BB, Schulte, JH, Mestdagh, P, Vandesompele, J, Marshall, GM, De Preter, K & Speleman, F 2015, 'MYCN-targeting miRNAs are predominantly downregulated during MYCN-driven neuroblastoma tumor formation', Oncotarget, vol. 6, no. 7, pp. 5204-5216.
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Behbood, V, Lu, J, Zhang, G & Pedrycz, W 2015, 'Multistep Fuzzy Bridged Refinement Domain Adaptation Algorithm and Its Application to Bank Failure Prediction', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON FUZZY SYSTEMS, vol. 23, no. 6, pp. 1917-1935.
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© 2015 IEEE. Machine learning plays an important role in data classification and data-based prediction. In some real-world applications, however, the training data (coming from the source domain) and test data (from the target domain) come from different domains or time periods, and this may result in the different distributions of some features. Moreover, the values of the features and/or labels of the datasets might be nonnumeric and involve vague values. Traditional learning-based prediction and classification methods cannot handle these two issues. In this study, we propose a multistep fuzzy bridged refinement domain adaptation algorithm, which offers an effective way to deal with both issues. It utilizes a concept of similarity to modify the labels of the target instances that were initially predicted by a shift-unaware model. It then refines the labels using instances that are most similar to a given target instance. These instances are extracted from mixture domains composed of source and target domains. The proposed algorithm is built on a basis of some data and refines the labels, thus performing completely independently of the shift-unaware prediction model. The algorithm uses a fuzzy set-based approach to deal with the vague values of the features and labels. Four different datasets are used in the experiments to validate the proposed algorithm. The results, which are compared with those generated by the existing domain adaptation methods, demonstrate a significant improvement in prediction accuracy in both the above-mentioned datasets.
Belhaj, D, Baccar, R, Jaabiri, I, Bouzid, J, Kallel, M, Ayadi, H & Zhou, JL 2015, 'Fate of selected estrogenic hormones in an urban sewage treatment plant in Tunisia (North Africa)', Science of The Total Environment, vol. 505, pp. 154-160.
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© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Estrogenic compounds have been monitored for one year at an urban sewage treatment plant (STP) located in Tunisia, to evaluate their fate and seasonal variations. The concentrations of these compounds were determined in both wastewater and sludge phases by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results showed that the highest removal of all estrogens (≥. 80%) was observed in summer. Mass balance analysis revealed that biodegradation was the predominant removal mechanism. Moreover, the results showed that the removal efficiency of the studied emerging micropollutants and their concentrations in the solid phase of return sludge were much higher in winter and spring than in summer and autumn. These findings were closely related to microbial activity and the concentration of mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSSs). Finally, the findings can be used to help with the modifications that could be implemented in that STP for the improved removal of estrogenic contaminants.
Bennett, NS, Byrne, D & Cowley, A 2015, 'Enhanced Seebeck coefficient in silicon nanowires containing dislocations', Applied Physics Letters, vol. 107, no. 1, pp. 013903-013903.
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In recent years, research on thermoelectric (TE) materials has intensified—thanks to the exciting potential of low-dimensional structures such as nanowires. Experiments have shown that nano-structuring materials can greatly reduce their thermal transport properties, significantly enhancing thermoelectric performance. With reduced thermal conductivity, nano-structured silicon—which is plentiful and low-cost—becomes a competitive TE material, but still trails traditional TE materials in overall performance. In this study, we show that the creation of extended defects within the crystal structure of silicon nanowires can create an additional enhancement. Relative to regular silicon nanowires, extended defects lead to an increased Seebeck coefficient. The effect is a consequence of the creation of dislocations and dislocation-loops, intentionally introduced in the nanowires. These defects create nano-scale potential barriers which theoretical studies have predicted can enhance silicon's thermopower by energy filtering of low-energy carriers. Although the defects slightly reduce carrier mobility—increasing electrical resistivity in the nanowires—their presence creates an overall two-fold enhancement in the thermoelectric power factor.
Bennett, NS, Wight, NM, Popuri, SR & Bos, J-WG 2015, 'Efficient thermoelectric performance in silicon nano-films by vacancy-engineering', Nano Energy, vol. 16, pp. 350-356.
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Berta, M & Tomamichel, M 2015, 'The Fidelity of Recovery is Multiplicative', IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 62, no. 4, pp. 1758-1763.
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Fawzi and Renner [Commun. Math. Phys. 340(2):575, 2015] recently establisheda lower bound on the conditional quantum mutual information (CQMI) oftripartite quantum states $ABC$ in terms of the fidelity of recovery (FoR),i.e. the maximal fidelity of the state $ABC$ with a state reconstructed fromits marginal $BC$ by acting only on the $C$ system. The FoR measures quantumcorrelations by the local recoverability of global states and has manyproperties similar to the CQMI. Here we generalize the FoR and show that theresulting measure is multiplicative by utilizing semi-definite programmingduality. This allows us to simplify an operational proof by Brandao et al.[Phys. Rev. Lett. 115(5):050501, 2015] of the above-mentioned lower bound thatis based on quantum state redistribution. In particular, in contrast to theprevious approaches, our proof does not rely on de Finetti reductions.
Berta, M, Fawzi, O & Tomamichel, M 2015, 'On Variational Expressions for Quantum Relative Entropies', Letters in Mathematical Physics, vol. 107, no. 12, pp. 2239-2265.
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Distance measures between quantum states like the trace distance and thefidelity can naturally be defined by optimizing a classical distance measureover all measurement statistics that can be obtained from the respectivequantum states. In contrast, Petz showed that the measured relative entropy,defined as a maximization of the Kullback-Leibler divergence over projectivemeasurement statistics, is strictly smaller than Umegaki's quantum relativeentropy whenever the states do not commute. We extend this result in two ways.First, we show that Petz' conclusion remains true if we allow general positiveoperator valued measures. Second, we extend the result to Renyi relativeentropies and show that for non-commuting states the sandwiched Renyi relativeentropy is strictly larger than the measured Renyi relative entropy for $\alpha\in (\frac12, \infty)$, and strictly smaller for $\alpha \in [0,\frac12)$. Thelatter statement provides counterexamples for the data-processing inequality ofthe sandwiched Renyi relative entropy for $\alpha < \frac12$. Our main tool isa new variational expression for the measured Renyi relative entropy, which wefurther exploit to show that certain lower bounds on quantum conditional mutualinformation are superadditive.
Biabani, MM & Indraratna, B 2015, 'An evaluation of the interface behaviour of rail subballast stabilised with geogrids and geomembranes', Geotextiles and Geomembranes, vol. 43, no. 3, pp. 240-249.
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Blamires, SJ, Liao, C-P, Chang, C-K, Chuang, Y-C, Wu, C-L, Blackledge, TA, Sheu, H-S & Tso, I-M 2015, 'Mechanical Performance of Spider Silk Is Robust to Nutrient-Mediated Changes in Protein Composition', Biomacromolecules, vol. 16, no. 4, pp. 1218-1225.
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Blamires, SJ, Piorkowski, D, Chuang, A, Tseng, Y-H, Toft, S & Tso, I-M 2015, 'Can differential nutrient extraction explain property variations in a predatory trap?', Royal Society Open Science, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 140479-140479.
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Predators exhibit flexible foraging to facilitate taking prey that offer important nutrients. Because trap-building predators have limited control over the prey they encounter, differential nutrient extraction and trap architectural flexibility may be used as a means of prey selection. Here, we tested whether differential nutrient extraction induces flexibility in architecture and stickiness of a spider's web by feeding Nephila pilipes live crickets (CC), live flies (FF), dead crickets with the web stimulated by flies (CD) or dead flies with the web stimulated by crickets (FD). Spiders in the CD group consumed less protein per mass of lipid or carbohydrate, and spiders in the FF group consumed less carbohydrates per mass of protein. Spiders from the CD group built stickier webs that used less silk, whereas spiders in the FF group built webs with more radii, greater catching areas and more silk, compared with other treatments. Our results suggest that differential nutrient extraction is a likely explanation for prey-induced spider web architecture and stickiness variations.
Bliuc, D, Alarkawi, D, Nguyen, TV, Eisman, JA & Center, JR 2015, 'Risk of Subsequent Fractures and Mortality in Elderly Women and Men with Fragility Fractures with and without Osteoporotic Bone Density: The Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study', Journal of Bone and Mineral Research, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 637-646.
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ABSTRACT Half of fragility fractures occur in individuals with nonosteoporotic BMD (BMD T-score > –2.5); however, there is no information on postfracture adverse events of subsequent fracture and mortality for different BMD levels. The objective of this work was to determine the risk and predictors of subsequent fracture and excess mortality following initial fracture according to BMD. The subjects were community-dwelling participants aged 60+ years from the Dubbo Osteoporosis Epidemiology Study with incident fractures followed from 1989 to 2011. The outcome measurements were as follows: risk of subsequent fracture and mortality according to BMD categorized as normal (T-score < –1), osteopenia (T-score ≤ –1 and > –2.5), and osteoporosis (T-score ≤ –2.5). There were 528 low-trauma fractures in women and 187 in men. Of these, 12% occurred in individuals with normal BMD (38 women, 50 men) and 42% in individuals with osteopenia (221 women, 76 men). The relative risk (RR) of subsequent fracture was >2.0-fold for all levels of BMD (normal BMD: 2.0 [1.2 to 3.3] for women and 2.1 [1.2 to 3.8] for men; osteopenia: 2.1 [1.7 to 2.6] for women and 2.5 [1.6 to 4.1] for men; and osteoporosis 3.2 [2.7 to 3.9] for women and 2.1 [1.4 to 3.1] for men. The likelihood of falling and reduced quadriceps strength contributed to subsequent fracture risk in women with normal BMD. By contrast with subsequent fracture risk, postfracture mortality was increased particularly in individuals with low BMD (age-adjusted standardized mortality ratio [SMR] for osteopenia 1.3 [1.1 to 1.7] and 2.2 [1.7 to 2.9] for women and men, respectively, and osteoporosis 1.7 [1.5 to 2.0] and 2.7 [2.0 to 3.6] for women and men, respectively). This study demonstrates the high burden of subsequent fracture in individuals with normal BMD and osteopenia, and ...
Bliuc, D, Nguyen, ND, Alarkawi, D, Nguyen, TV, Eisman, JA & Center, JR 2015, 'Accelerated bone loss and increased post-fracture mortality in elderly women and men', Osteoporosis International, vol. 26, no. 4, pp. 1331-1339.
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Bonilla, CA, Merigó, JM & Torres-Abad, C 2015, 'Economics in Latin America: a bibliometric analysis', Scientometrics, vol. 105, no. 2, pp. 1239-1252.
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Bibliometrics is a research field that studies quantitatively the bibliographic material. This study analyzes the academic research developed in Latin America in economics between 1994 and 2013. The article uses the Web of Science database in order to collect the information and provides several bibliometric indicators including the total number of publications and citations, and the h-index. The results indicate that Brazil, Mexico, Chile, Argentina and Colombia are the only countries with a significant amount of publications in economics in Web of Science although Costa Rica and Uruguay have considerable results in per capita terms. The annual evolution shows a significant increase during the last 5 years that seems to continue in the future, probably with the objective of reaching similar standards than the most competitive countries around the World. The results also show that development, agricultural and health economics are the most significant topics in the region.
Boostani, AF, Mousavian, RT, Tahamtan, S, Yazdani, S, Khosroshahi, RA, Wei, D, Xu, JZ, Gong, D, Zhang, XM & Jiang, ZY 2015, 'Graphene sheets encapsulating SiC nanoparticles: A roadmap towards enhancing tensile ductility of metal matrix composites', Materials Science and Engineering: A, vol. 648, pp. 92-103.
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Bowers, ML, Gao, Y, Yang, L, Gaydosh, DJ, De Graef, M, Noebe, RD, Wang, Y & Mills, MJ 2015, 'Austenite grain refinement during load-biased thermal cycling of a Ni49.9Ti50.1 shape memory alloy', Acta Materialia, vol. 91, pp. 318-329.
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Bu, GP, Chanda, S, Guan, H, Jo, J, Blumenstein, M & Loo, YC 2015, 'Crack detection using a texture analysis-based technique for visual bridge inspection', Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 41-48.
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Bridge inspection is a pathway to bridge condition rating assessment, and is an essential element of any bridge management system (BMS). The success of a BMS is highly dependent on the quality of bridge inspection outcomes and accurate estimation of future bridge condition ratings. However, existing visual bridge inspection methods suffer several limitations due to human subjective judgment. In order to minimise such limitations, a feasibility study has been performed to enhance the current visual inspection method using optical image processing techniques. However, the accuracy of the inspection outcomes still requires further improvement. This paper proposes an automatic bridge inspection approach employing wavelet-based image features along with support vector machines (SVM) for automatic detection of cracks in bridge images. A two-stage approach is followed, in the first stage, a decision is made as whether an image should undergo a pre-processing step (depending on image characteristics); in the second stage, wavelet features are extracted from the image using a sliding window texture analysis-based technique. Consequently, an average accuracy of 92% (effect of training image types on accuracy) is obtained even when undertaking experiments with noisy and complex bridge images.
Bu, GP, Lee, JH, Guan, H, Loo, YC & Blumenstein, M 2015, 'Prediction of Long-Term Bridge Performance: Integrated Deterioration Approach with Case Studies', Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, vol. 29, no. 3, pp. 04014089-04014089.
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Bui, DT, Pradhan, B, Revhaug, I, Nguyen, DB, Pham, HV & Bui, QN 2015, 'A novel hybrid evidential belief function-based fuzzy logic model in spatial prediction of rainfall-induced shallow landslides in the Lang Son city area (Vietnam)', Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 243-271.
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Burdon, S & Dovey, KA 2015, 'Exploring the cultural basis of innovation', Journal of Innovation Management, vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 20-34.
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The paper explores the relationship between leadership, culture and innovation. Through an analysis of four enterprises, voted by their peers as having strong innovation-friendly cultures, we explicate the assumptions embedded in these innovation-supporting cultures, and outline the leadership practices that have created them. By locating the study within the interpretivist research paradigm and adopting the 'practice turn' perspective that has characterised recent leadership research, this study has been able to acknowledge and address the political dynamics involved in the creation of innovation-conducive cultures.
Burdon, S, Mooney, GR & Al-Kilidar, H 2015, 'Navigating service sector innovation using co-creation partnerships', JOURNAL OF SERVICE THEORY AND PRACTICE, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 285-303.
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©Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to analyse a series of engineering services partnerships to better understand requisites needed in building high value co-creation alliances – especially where innovation is the strategic goal. Design/methodology/approach – Using a combination of quantitative surveys, qualitative “deep-dive” assessments and a small number of in-situ mini-case investigations this research sets out to analyse 99 joint-venture innovation partnerships. These ventures represent a variety of asymmetric and symmetric alliances within the engineering services sector. Particular emphasis is given to those where the prerequisites for co-creative innovation are either in place or could be built. Findings – Partnering and progressing innovative ideas are important behaviours for organisations seeking higher levels of commercial success and competitive advantage. Navigating the partnering dynamic can also be harder than expected, potentially hindered by misunderstandings and differing expectations between enterprises. Particularly for symmetric endeavours, success often hinges upon not only having clarity in the degree of innovation sought but also alignment as to the depth and stage of the partnering dynamic itself. However, when such collaboration works customer satisfaction and associated contract retention can increase significantly. Originality/value – Most inter-company innovation projects historically seem to occur where one firm is significantly larger than the other. In contrast, this study highlights issues encountered when innovation co-creation projects are undertaken by a mature (as opposed to maturing) organisation in collaboration with partners where the power balance is similar between the two enterprises. In such cases, customer satisfaction surveys can be useful tools for objectively navigating the innovation co-creation experience.
Burton, GJ, Pineda, JA, Sheng, D & Airey, D 2015, 'Microstructural changes of an undisturbed, reconstituted and compacted high plasticity clay subjected to wetting and drying', Engineering Geology, vol. 193, pp. 363-373.
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Cagno, E, Ramirez-Portilla, A & Trianni, A 2015, 'Linking energy efficiency and innovation practices: Empirical evidence from the foundry sector', Energy Policy, vol. 83, pp. 240-256.
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Cagno, E, Trianni, A, Abeelen, C, Worrell, E & Miggiano, F 2015, 'Barriers and drivers for energy efficiency: Different perspectives from an exploratory study in the Netherlands', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 102, pp. 26-38.
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Cai, Q, Turner, BD, Sheng, D & Sloan, S 2015, 'The kinetics of fluoride sorption by zeolite: Effects of cadmium, barium and manganese', Journal of Contaminant Hydrology, vol. 177-178, pp. 136-147.
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Cairney, JM, La Fontaine, A, Trimby, P, Yang, L & Piazolo, S 2015, 'Quantitative microstructural analysis of geological materials by atom probe: understanding the mechano-chemical behaviour of zircon', Microscopy and Microanalysis, vol. 21, no. S3, pp. 1317-1318.
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Callear, SK, Johnston, A, McLain, SE & Imberti, S 2015, 'Conformation and interactions of dopamine hydrochloride in solution', The Journal of Chemical Physics, vol. 142, no. 1.
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The aqueous solution of dopamine hydrochloride has been investigated using neutron and X-ray total scattering data together with Monte-Carlo based modelling using Empirical Potential Structure Refinement. The conformation of the protonated dopamine molecule is presented and the results compared to the conformations found in crystal structures, dopamine-complexed protein crystal structures and predicted from theoretical calculations and pharmacophoric models. It is found that protonated dopamine adopts a range of conformations in solution, highlighting the low rotational energy barrier between different conformations, with the preferred conformation being trans-perpendicular. The interactions between each of the species present (protonated dopamine molecules, water molecules, and chloride anions) have been determined and are discussed with reference to interactions observed in similar systems both in the liquid and crystalline state, and predicted from theoretical calculations. The expected strong hydrogen bonds between the strong hydrogen bond donors and acceptors are observed, together with evidence of weaker CH hydrogen bonds and π interactions also playing a significant role in determining the arrangement of adjacent molecules.
Carter, DR, Murray, J, Cheung, BB, Gamble, L, Koach, J, Tsang, J, Sutton, S, Kalla, H, Syed, S, Gifford, AJ, Issaeva, N, Biktasova, A, Atmadibrata, B, Sun, Y, Sokolowski, N, Ling, D, Kim, PY, Webber, H, Clark, A, Ruhle, M, Liu, B, Oberthuer, A, Fischer, M, Byrne, J, Saletta, F, Thwe, LM, Purmal, A, Haderski, G, Burkhart, C, Speleman, F, De Preter, K, Beckers, A, Ziegler, DS, Liu, T, Gurova, KV, Gudkov, AV, Norris, MD, Haber, M & Marshall, GM 2015, 'Therapeutic targeting of the MYC signal by inhibition of histone chaperone FACT in neuroblastoma', Science Translational Medicine, vol. 7, no. 312.
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Histone chaperone FACT acts in a positive feedback loop with MYCN and is a therapeutic target in neuroblastoma.
Casanovas, M, Torres-Martinez, A & Merigo, JM 2015, 'DECISION MAKING PROCESSES OF NON-LIFE INSURANCE PRICING USING FUZZY LOGIC AND OWA OPERATORS', ECONOMIC COMPUTATION AND ECONOMIC CYBERNETICS STUDIES AND RESEARCH, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 169-187.
Casanovas, M, Torres-Martínez, A & Merigó, JM 2015, 'Decision making processes of non-life insurance pricing using fuzzy logic and OWA operators', Economic Computation and Economic Cybernetics Studies and Research, vol. 49, no. 2, pp. 1-19.
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Setting a commercial premium for an insurance policy is a complex process, even, though statistical tools provide fairly reliable information on the behavior of the frequency and cost of claims differentiated by risk profiles reflected in pure premium calculations. However lately setting the price the customer must pay has not been easy, because of the uncertainty of, having to use subjective criteria to analyze how demand may be affected by different price alternatives and economic situations. This article aims to develop this process in two stages. The first stage is carried out with the opinion of experts applied to uncertain numbers and Ordered Weighted Average (OWA) operators to assess the overall benefits of each profile to choose the best alternative. The second stage, which uses Heavy OWA (HOWA) operators, is based on the results obtained in the first stage and chooses a general price alternative for all profiles.
Cassidy, MJ, Kim, K, Ni, W & Gu, W 2015, 'A problem of limited-access special lanes. Part I: Spatiotemporal studies of real freeway traffic', Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, vol. 80, pp. 307-319.
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Cassidy, MJ, Kim, K, Ni, W & Gu, W 2015, 'A problem of limited-access special lanes. Part II: Exploring remedies via simulation', Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, vol. 80, pp. 320-329.
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Castel, A & Foster, SJ 2015, 'Bond strength between blended slag and Class F fly ash geopolymer concrete with steel reinforcement', Cement and Concrete Research, vol. 72, pp. 48-53.
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Castel, A & Nasser, A 2015, 'Influence of pre‐existing oxides layer and interface condition with carbonated concrete on active reinforcing steel corrosion', Materials and Corrosion, vol. 66, no. 3, pp. 206-214.
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This work focuses on carbonation‐induced corrosion in concrete. This paper presents specific experiments which were developed in order to assess the influence of both pre‐existing oxides layer at the surface of the steel bars and steel–concrete interface condition on active corrosion. Two types of active corrosion are studied: Microcell corrosion and galvanic corrosion. Results show that pre‐existing oxide layer contributes to reduce both galvanic and microcell corrosion. Steel–concrete interface defect leads to a strong increase in galvanic corrosion but does not affect significantly microcell corrosion in carbonated concrete. The quantity of pre‐existing oxides is highly scattered and these scatters can be superior to the mass of new oxides formed during relatively short‐term corrosion tests in natural condition which makes mass loss analysis very difficult.
Castel, A, Gilbert, RI & Ranzi, G 2015, 'Closure to “Instantaneous Stiffness of Cracked Reinforced Concrete Including Steel-Concrete Interface Damage and Long-Term Effects” by Arnaud Castel, Raymond Ian Gilbert, and Gianluca Ranzi', Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 141, no. 6, pp. 07015006-07015006.
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Castel, A, Khan, I & Gilbert, RI 2015, 'Development length in reinforced concrete structures exposed to steel corrosion: A correction factor for AS3600 provisions', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 89-98.
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© Institution of Engineers Australia, 2015. In reinforced concrete structures, reinforcement corrosion induces concrete cracking and leads to a reduction in both the steel cross-section and the steel-concrete bond strength and ultimately affects the development length. In this paper, a new correction factor is proposed to calculate the development length of reinforced concrete structures prone to corrosion. A scalar bond damage parameter is introduced to relate bond strength reduction to corrosion. The new model agrees well with all experimental results found in the literature. The bond damage parameter is further used as a correction factor modifying the AS3600 provisions for the development length of reinforcement in reinforced concrete structures located in a saline environment. The relationship between steel-concrete bond damage and corrosion induced concrete cracking is also discussed.
Chae, S-R, Noeiaghaei, T, Jang, H-C, Sahebi, S, Jassby, D, Shon, H-K, Park, P-K, Kim, J-O & Park, J-S 2015, 'Effects of natural organic matter on separation of the hydroxylated fullerene nanoparticles by cross-flow ultrafiltration membranes from water', SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY, vol. 140, pp. 61-68.
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© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Transport, reactivity, and microbial toxicity of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are significantly influenced by the size and surface charge of the nanoparticle aggregates in the environmental media in which they are contained. To remove or separate the colloidal aggregates of ENMs from the aquatic environment, it is important to understand fate and transport of ENMs, and their interaction with other environmental components. Here, we explore the effects of natural organic matter (NOM) and NaCl concentrations on the removal efficiency of hydroxylated fullerene (fullerol) nanoparticle aggregates, nC60(OH)24 by cross-flow ultrafiltration (UF) membranes. We demonstrate that the removal efficiency of nC60(OH)24 (185 nm) by the UF membrane (nominal pore size = 30 nm) was limited at approximately 30%. As NaCl concentration increased from 0 to 1.5 M NaCl, the size of nC 60(OH)24 increased from 185 nm to 1405 nm but the maximum removal efficiency remained below 60%. The presence of NOM increased the stability of nC60(OH)24 and deteriorated the retention of nC60(OH)24 by the UF membranes. The more hydrophilic NOM (i.e., fulvic acid) resulted in lower separation efficiency of nC60(OH)24 by the UF membrane than the less hydrophilic NOM (i.e., humic acid).
Chakraborty, C, Ho-Ching Iu, H & Dah-Chuan Lu, D 2015, 'Power converters, control, and energy management for distributed generation', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 62, no. 7, pp. 4466-4470.
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Chakraborty, S, Mengersen, K, Fidge, C, Ma, L & Lassen, D 2015, 'Multifaceted Modelling of Complex Business Enterprises', PLOS ONE, vol. 10, no. 8, pp. e0134052-e0134052.
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Chakravadhanula, M, Hampton, CN, Chodavadia, P, Ozols, V, Zhou, L, Catchpoole, D, Xu, J, Erdreich-Epstein, A & Bhardwaj, RD 2015, 'Wnt pathway in atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors', Neuro-Oncology, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 526-535.
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© The Author(s) 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Neuro-Oncology. All rights reserved. Background: Atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumor (ATRT) is an aggressive pediatric brain tumor with limited therapeutic options. The hypothesis for this study was that the Wnt pathway triggered by the Wnt5B ligand plays an important role in ATRT biology. To address this hypothesis, the role of WNT5B and other Wnt pathway genes was analyzed in ATRT tissues and ATRT primary cell lines. Methods: Transcriptome-sequencing analyses were performed using nanoString platforms, immunohistochemistry, Western blotting, quantitative reverse transcriptase PCR, immunoprecipitation, short interference RNA studies, cell viability studies, and drug dose response (DDR) assays. Results: Our transcriptome-sequencing results of Wnt pathway genes from ATRT tissues and cell lines indicated that the WNT5B gene is significantly upregulated in ATRT samples compared with nontumor brain samples. These results also indicated a differential expression of both canonical and noncanonical Wnt genes. Imunoprecipitation studies indicated that Wnt5B binds to Frizzled1 and Ryk receptors. Inhibition of WNT5B by short interference RNA decreased the expression of FRIZZLED1 and RYK. Cell viability studies a indicated significant decrease in cell viability by inhibiting Frizzled1 receptor. DDR assays showed promising results with some inhibitors. Conclusions: These promising therapeutic options will be studied further before starting a translational clinical trial. The success of these options will improve care for these patients.
Chan, B, Guan, H, Jo, J & Blumenstein, M 2015, 'Towards UAV-based bridge inspection systems: a review and an application perspective', Structural Monitoring and Maintenance, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 283-300.
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© 2015 Techno-Press, Ltd. Visual condition inspections remain paramount to assessing the current deterioration status of a bridge and assigning remediation or maintenance tasks so as to ensure the ongoing serviceability of the structure. However, in recent years, there has been an increasing backlog of maintenance activities. Existing research reveals that this is attributable to the labour-intensive, subjective and disruptive nature of the current bridge inspection method. Current processes ultimately require lane closures, traffic guidance schemes and inspection equipment. This not only increases the whole-of-life costs of the bridge, but also increases the risk to the travelling public as issues affecting the structural integrity may go unaddressed. As a tool for bridge condition inspections, Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or, drones, offer considerable potential, allowing a bridge to be visually assessed without the need for inspectors to walk across the deck or utilise under-bridge inspection units. With current inspection processes placing additional strain on the existing bridge maintenance resources, the technology has the potential to significantly reduce the overall inspection costs and disruption caused to the travelling public. In addition to this, the use of automated aerial image capture enables engineers to better understand a situation through the 3D spatial context offered by UAV systems. However, the use of UAV for bridge inspection involves a number of critical issues to be resolved, including stability and accuracy of control, and safety to people. SLAM (Simultaneous Localisation and Mapping) is a technique that could be used by a UAV to build a map of the bridge underneath, while simultaneously determining its location on the constructed map. While there are considerable economic and risk-related benefits created through introducing entirely new ways of inspecting bridges and visualising information, there also remain hindrances to...
Chan, KY, Lam, HK, Dillon, TS & Ling, SH 2015, 'A Stepwise-Based Fuzzy Regression Procedure for Developing Customer Preference Models in New Product Development', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON FUZZY SYSTEMS, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 1728-1745.
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© 2014 IEEE. Fuzzy regression methods have commonly been used to develop consumer preferences models, which correlate the engineering characteristics with consumer preferences regarding a new product; the consumer preference models provide a platform, whereby product developers can decide the engineering characteristics in order to satisfy consumer preferences prior to developing the products. Recent research shows that these fuzzy regression methods are commonly used to model customer preferences. However, these approaches have a common limitation in that they do not investigate the appropriate polynomial structure, which includes significant regressors with only significant engineering characteristics; also, they cannot generate interaction or high-order regressors in the models. The inclusion of insignificant regressors is not an effective approach when developing the models. Exclusion of significant regressors may affect the generalization capability of the consumer preference models. In this paper, a novel fuzzy modeling method is proposed, namely fuzzy stepwise regression (F-SR), in order to develop a customer preference model which is structured with an appropriate polynomial, which includes only significant regressors. Based on the appropriate polynomial structure, the fuzzy coefficients are determined using the fuzzy least-squares regression. The developed fuzzy regression model attempts to obtain a better generalization capability using a smaller number of regressors. The effectiveness of the F-SR is evaluated based on two design problems, namely a tea maker design and a solder paste dispenser design. Results show that better generalization capabilities can be obtained compared with the fuzzy regression methods commonly used for new product development. In addition, smaller scale consumer preference models with fewer engineering characteristics can be obtained. Hence, a simpler and more effective product development platform can be provided.
Che, E, Tuan, HD, Minh Tam Tam, HH & Nguyen, HH 2015, 'Successive Interference Mitigation in Multiuser MIMO Channels', IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 2185-2199.
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Chekli, L, Galloux, J, Zhao, YX, Gao, BY & Shon, HK 2015, 'Coagulation performance and floc characteristics of polytitanium tetrachloride (PTC) compared with titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) and iron salts in humic acid-kaolin synthetic water treatment', SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY, vol. 142, pp. 155-161.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Polymeric metal coagulants are increasingly used to improve the coagulation/flocculation process efficiency, yet the research on the development of titanium and particularly polytitanium salts remains very limited. In this study, the performance of recently developed polytitanium tetrachloride (PTC) coagulant was compared with both titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) and a commonly used coagulant, ferric chloride (FeCl3) in terms of water quality parameters and floc properties. Compared with FeCl3 coagulant, titanium-based coagulants had broader region of good flocculation in terms of pH and coagulant dose. Further, they achieved higher removal of UV254 and turbidity but lower dissolved organic carbon (DOC) removal. Charge neutralisation, physical entrapment of colloids within coagulant precipitates and adsorption were found to be the main coagulation mechanisms for TiCl4 while sweep coagulation and adsorption were found to play a more important role for both FeCl3 and PTC. The aggregated flocs formed by PTC flocculation had the largest floc size of around 836 μm with the highest floc growth rate. A little distinction of the floc strength factor was found among the coagulants tested (i.e. 44.8%, 44.2% and 38.9% for FeCl3, TiCl4 and PTC respectively) while TiCl4 coagulant yielded the flocs with the highest floc recovery factor. This study indicates that Ti-based coagulants are effective and promising coagulants for water purification. Besides, the resulted flocculated sludge can be recycled and produce functional TiO2 photocatalyst which is a significant advantage over conventional coagulants.
Chekli, L, Roy, M, Tijing, LD, Donner, E, Lombi, E & Shon, HK 2015, 'Agglomeration behaviour of titanium dioxide nanoparticles in river waters: A multi-method approach combining light scattering and field-flow fractionation techniques', JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT, vol. 159, pp. 135-142.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles (TiO2 NPs) are currently one of the most prolifically used nanomaterials, resulting in an increasing likelihood of release to the environment. This is of concern as the potential toxicity of TiO2 NPs has been investigated in several recent studies. Research into their fate and behaviour once entering the environment is urgently needed to support risk assessment and policy development. In this study, we used a multi-method approach combining light scattering and field-flow fractionation techniques to assess both the aggregation behaviour and aggregate structure of TiO2 NPs in different river waters. Results showed that both the aggregate size and surface-adsorbed dissolved organic matter (DOM) were strongly related to the initial DOM concentration of the tested waters (i.e. R2>0.90) suggesting that aggregation of TiO2 NPs is controlled by the presence and concentration of DOM. The conformation of the formed aggregates was also found to be strongly related to the surface-adsorbed DOM (i.e. R2>0.95) with increasing surface-adsorbed DOM leading to more compact structures. Finally, the concentration of TiO2 NPs remaining in the supernatant after sedimentation of the larger aggregates was found to decrease proportionally with both increasing IS and decreasing DOM concentration, resulting in more than 95% sedimentation in the highest IS sample.
Chekli, L, Zhao, YX, Tijing, LD, Phuntsho, S, Donner, E, Lombi, E, Gao, BY & Shon, HK 2015, 'Aggregation behaviour of engineered nanoparticles in natural waters: Characterising aggregate structure using on-line laser light scattering', JOURNAL OF HAZARDOUS MATERIALS, vol. 284, pp. 190-200.
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© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Adsorption of natural organic matter, aggregation and disaggregation have been identified as three of the main processes affecting the fate and behaviour of engineered nanoparticles (ENPs) in aquatic environments. However, although several methods have been developed to study the aggregation behaviour of ENPs in natural waters, there are only a few studies focusing on the fate of such aggregates and their potential disaggregation behaviour. In this study, we proposed and demonstrated a simple method for characterising the aggregation behaviour and aggregate structure of ENPs in different natural waters. Both the aggregate size of ENPs and their adsorption capacity for dissolved organic matter (DOM) were strongly related (R2>0.97, p<.05) to the combined effect of initial concentration of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and the ionic strength of the natural waters. The structure of the formed aggregates was strongly correlated (R2>0.95, p<.05) to the amount of DOM adsorbed by the ENPs during the aggregation process. Under high ionic strength conditions, aggregation is mainly governed by diffusion and the aggregates formed under these conditions showed the lowest stability and fractal dimension, forming linear, chain-like aggregates. In contrast, under low ionic strength conditions, the aggregate structure was more compact, most likely due to strong chemical binding with DOM and bridging mechanisms involving divalent cations formed during reaction-limited aggregation.
Chelliah, J, Sood, S & Scholfield, S 2015, 'Realising the strategic value of RFID in academic libraries: a case study of the University of Technology Sydney', AUSTRALIAN LIBRARY JOURNAL, vol. 64, no. 2, pp. 113-127.
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© 2015 Australian Library & Information Association. Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is being increasingly implemented in academic libraries due to a promise of increased collections management efficiency. This paper reports on the recent implementation of RFID technology in the library at the University of Technology Sydney, providing insights into the change management process of RFID implementation. The paper focuses on the implications of the implementation and indigenisation of RFID technology for three specific and symbiotic areas of the library: people, processes and technology. Data from interviews with eight participants involved at various levels of the academic library were collected. This paper develops a best practice model through the insights gained by the people involved in the RFID implementation. The case study posits the dynamic relationships between people, processes and technology as greatly impacted by the implementation process, and analyses the divergence between projected and actual outcomes in the implementation process.
Chen, C, Indraratna, B, McDowell, G & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2015, 'Discrete element modelling of lateral displacement of a granular assembly under cyclic loading', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 69, pp. 474-484.
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Chen, G, Wang, Z, Nghiem, LD, Li, X-M, Xie, M, Zhao, B, Zhang, M, Song, J & He, T 2015, 'Treatment of shale gas drilling flowback fluids (SGDFs) by forward osmosis: Membrane fouling and mitigation', DESALINATION, vol. 366, pp. 113-120.
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Chen, H, Zhang, G, Zhu, D & Lu, J 2015, 'A patent time series processing component for technology intelligence by trend identification functionality', NEURAL COMPUTING & APPLICATIONS, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 345-353.
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Chen, J, Huang, Z, Wang, C, Porter, S, Wang, B, Lie, W & Liu, HK 2015, 'Sodium-difluoro(oxalato)borate (NaDFOB): a new electrolyte salt for Na-ion batteries', Chemical Communications, vol. 51, no. 48, pp. 9809-9812.
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Compatible with various common solvents, a new electrolyte salt NaDFOB has been studied, which enables excellent reversible capacity and high rate capability when used in Na/Na0.44MnO2 half cells.
Chen, J, Ji, Z, Yu, N & Zeng, B 2015, 'Detecting Consistency of Overlapping Quantum Marginals by Separability', Phys. Rev. A, vol. 93, no. 3, p. 032105.
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The quantum marginal problem asks whether a set of given density matrices areconsistent, i.e., whether they can be the reduced density matrices of a globalquantum state. Not many non-trivial analytic necessary (or sufficient)conditions are known for the problem in general. We propose a method to detectconsistency of overlapping quantum marginals by considering the separability ofsome derived states. Our method works well for the $k$-symmetric extensionproblem in general, and for the general overlapping marginal problems in somecases. Our work is, in some sense, the converse to the well-known $k$-symmetricextension criterion for separability.
Chen, J, Xia, G, Guo, Z, Huang, Z, Liu, H & Yu, X 2015, 'Porous Ni nanofibers with enhanced catalytic effect on the hydrogen storage performance of MgH2', Journal of Materials Chemistry A, vol. 3, no. 31, pp. 15843-15848.
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Porous Ni nanofibers (NFs) were synthesized via a single-nozzle electrospinning technique with subsequent calcination and reduction.
Chen, J-Y, Ji, Z, Liu, Z-X, Shen, Y & Zeng, B 2015, 'Geometry of reduced density matrices for symmetry-protected topological phases', Phys. Rev. A, vol. 93, no. 1, p. 012309.
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In this paper, we study the geometry of reduced density matrices for stateswith symmetry-protected topological (SPT) order. We observe ruled surfacestructures on the boundary of the convex set of low dimension projections ofthe reduced density matrices. In order to signal the SPT order using ruledsurfaces, it is important that we add a symmetry-breaking term to the boundaryof the system---no ruled surface emerges in systems without boundary or when weadd a symmetry-breaking term representing a thermodynamic quantity. Althoughthe ruled surfaces only appear in the thermodynamic limit where theground-state degeneracy is exact, we analyze the precision of our numericalalgorithm and show that a finite system calculation suffices to reveal theruled surface structures.
Chen, L, Shern, JF, Wei, JS, Yohe, ME, Song, YK, Hurd, L, Liao, H, Catchpoole, D, Skapek, SX, Barr, FG, Hawkins, DS & Khan, J 2015, 'Clonality and Evolutionary History of Rhabdomyosarcoma', PLOS Genetics, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. e1005075-e1005075.
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To infer the subclonality of rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) and predict the temporal order of genetic events for the tumorigenic process, and to identify novel drivers, we applied a systematic method that takes into account germline and somatic alterations in 44 tumor-normal RMS pairs using deep whole-genome sequencing. Intriguingly, we find that loss of heterozygosity of 11p15.5 and mutations in RAS pathway genes occur early in the evolutionary history of the PAX-fusion-negative-RMS (PFN-RMS) subtype. We discover several early mutations in non-RAS mutated samples and predict them to be drivers in PFN-RMS including recurrent mutation of PKN1. In contrast, we find that PAX-fusion-positive (PFP) subtype tumors have undergone whole-genome duplication in the late stage of cancer evolutionary history and have acquired fewer mutations and subclones than PFN-RMS. Moreover we predict that the PAX3-FOXO1 fusion event occurs earlier than the whole genome duplication. Our findings provide information critical to the understanding of tumorigenesis of RMS.
Chen, M, Tsang, IW, Tan, M & Cham, TJ 2015, 'A Unified Feature Selection Framework for Graph Embedding on High Dimensional Data', IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, vol. 27, no. 6, pp. 1465-1477.
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© 2014 IEEE. Although graph embedding has been a powerful tool for modeling data intrinsic structures, simply employing all features for data structure discovery may result in noise amplification. This is particularly severe for high dimensional data with small samples. To meet this challenge, this paper proposes a novel efficient framework to perform feature selection for graph embedding, in which a category of graph embedding methods is cast as a least squares regression problem. In this framework, a binary feature selector is introduced to naturally handle the feature cardinality in the least squares formulation. The resultant integral programming problem is then relaxed into a convex Quadratically Constrained Quadratic Program (QCQP) learning problem, which can be efficiently solved via a sequence of accelerated proximal gradient (APG) methods. Since each APG optimization is w.r.t. only a subset of features, the proposed method is fast and memory efficient. The proposed framework is applied to several graph embedding learning problems, including supervised, unsupervised, and semi-supervised graph embedding. Experimental results on several high dimensional data demonstrated that the proposed method outperformed the considered state-of-the-art methods.
Chen, M, Willgoose, GR & Saco, PM 2015, 'Evaluation of the hydrology of the IBIS land surface model in a semi‐arid catchment', Hydrological Processes, vol. 29, no. 5, pp. 653-670.
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AbstractThis paper evaluates the Integrated BIosphere Simulator (IBIS) land surface model using daily soil moisture data over a 3‐year period (2005–2007) at a semi‐arid site in southeastern Australia, the Stanley catchment, using the Monte Carlo generalized likelihood uncertainty estimation (GLUE) approach. The model was satisfactorily calibrated for both the surface 30 cm and full profile 90 cm. However, full‐profile calibration was not as good as that for the surface, which results from some deficiencies in the evapotranspiration component in IBIS. Relatively small differences in simulated soil moisture were associated with large discrepancies in the predictions of surface runoff, drainage and evapotranspiration. We conclude that while land surface schemes may be effective at simulating heat fluxes, they may be ineffective for prediction of hydrology unless the soil moisture is accurately estimated. Sensitivity analyses indicated that the soil moisture simulations were most sensitive to soil parameters, and the wilting point was the most identifiable parameter. Significant interactions existed between three soils parameters: porosity, saturated hydraulic conductivity and Campbell ‘b’ exponent, so they could not be identified independent of each other. There were no significant differences in parameter sensitivity and interaction for different hydroclimatic years. Even though the data record contained a very dry year and another year with a very large rainfall event, this indicated that the soil model could be calibrated without the data needing to explore the extreme range of dry and wet conditions. IBIS was much less sensitive to vegetation parameters. The leaf area index (LAI) could affect the mean of daily soil moisture time series when LAI < 1, while the variance of the soil moisture time series was sensitive to LAI > 1. IBIS was insensitive to the Jackson rooting parameter, suggesting that the effect of the ...
Chen, M, Willgoose, GR & Saco, PM 2015, 'Investigating the impact of leaf area index temporal variability on soil moisture predictions using remote sensing vegetation data', Journal of Hydrology, vol. 522, pp. 274-284.
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Chen, Q & Indraratna, B 2015, 'Deformation Behavior of Lignosulfonate-Treated Sandy Silt under Cyclic Loading', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 141, no. 1, pp. 06014015-06014015.
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Chen, Q & Indraratna, B 2015, 'Shear behaviour of sandy silt treated with lignosulfonate', Canadian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 52, no. 8, pp. 1180-1185.
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Chemical stabilizers (e.g., cement, lime, gypsum, and other alkaline admixtures) have been widely used to enhance the strength and compressibility properties of subgrade soils. However, traditional chemical stabilizers are not always acceptable in Australia because they often pose a threat to the surrounding environment. Moreover, traditionally treated soils usually exhibit excessive brittle behaviour, which is often undesirable for transport infrastructure such as rail embankments and airport runways. To establish an alternative stabilizer that could overcome the above problems, this note presents a series of experimental results on the use of lignosulfonate (by-product of timber and paper industry), an environmentally friendly soil stabilizer effective for treating fine sandy silt that formed the bulk of an embankment fill at Penrith, Australia. The effects of lignosulfonate treatment on the shear behaviour of treated soil, including the stress–strain relationships, and the corresponding development of excess pore pressure and volumetric responses under monotonic triaxial testing are discussed.
Chen, T, Yu, N & Han, T 2015, 'Continuous-time orbit problems are decidable in polynomial-time', Information Processing Letters, vol. 115, no. 1, pp. 11-14.
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Chen, W, Huang, Z, Wu, G & Chen, P 2015, 'New synthetic procedure for NaNH2(BH3)2 and evaluation of its hydrogen storage properties', Science China Chemistry, vol. 58, no. 1, pp. 169-173.
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Chen, W, Huang, Z, Wu, G, He, T, Li, Z, Chen, J, Guo, Z, Liu, H & Chen, P 2015, 'Guanidinium octahydrotriborate: an ionic liquid with high hydrogen storage capacity', Journal of Materials Chemistry A, vol. 3, no. 21, pp. 11411-11416.
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Guanidinium octahydrotriborate, with a melting point of <−10 °C, releases >10 wt% high purity hydrogen below 100 °C.
Chen, X, Guo, J, Xie, G-J, Liu, Y, Yuan, Z & Ni, B-J 2015, 'A new approach to simultaneous ammonium and dissolved methane removal from anaerobic digestion liquor: A model-based investigation of feasibility', Water Research, vol. 85, pp. 295-303.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. The presence of a high level of dissolved methane (e.g., 20-26 g m-3) in the anaerobic sludge digestion liquor represents a major challenge to the treatment of this stream, as its emission to the atmosphere contributes significantly to the carbon footprint of wastewater treatment. Here we propose a new approach to simultaneous ammonium and dissolved methane removal from the anaerobic digestion liquor through integrating partial nitritation-Anammox and denitrifying anaerobic methane oxidation (DAMO) processes in a single-stage membrane biofilm reactor (MBfR). In such an MBfR, the anaerobic digestion liquor is provided in the bulk liquid, while oxygen is supplied through gas-permeable membranes to avoid dissolved methane stripping. A previously developed model with appropriate extensions was applied to assess the system performance under different operational conditions and the corresponding microbial interactions. Both influent surface loading (or hydraulic retention time) and oxygen surface loading are found to significantly influence the total nitrogen (TN) and dissolved methane removal, which jointly determine the overall system performance. The counter diffusion and concentration gradients of substrates cause microbial stratification in the biofilm, where ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) attach close to the membrane surface (biofilm base) where oxygen and ammonium are available, while Anammox and DAMO microorganisms jointly grow in the biofilm layer close to the bulk liquid where methane, ammonium, and nitrite are available with the latter produced by AOB. These results provide first insights and useful information for the design and operation of this new technology for simultaneous ammonium and dissolved methane removal in its potential future applications.
Chen, X, Li, JC, Cai, MF, Zou, Y & Zhao, J 2015, 'Experimental Study on Wave Propagation Across a Rock Joint with Rough Surface', Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, vol. 48, no. 6, pp. 2225-2234.
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Chen, X, Ni, W, Wang, X & Sun, Y 2015, 'Provisioning quality-of-service to energy harvesting wireless communications', IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 102-109.
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Chen, Y, Zhang, X, Feng, Y, Liang, J & Chen, H 2015, 'Sunburst with ordered nodes based on hierarchical clustering: a visual analyzing method for associated hierarchical pesticide residue data', Journal of Visualization, vol. 18, no. 2, pp. 237-254.
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© 2015, The Visualization Society of Japan. Abstract: According to the characteristics of pesticide residue data and analyzing requirements in food safety fields, we presented a visual analyzing method for associated hierarchical data, called sunburst with ordered nodes based on hierarchical clustering (SONHC). SONHC arranged the leaf nodes in sunburst in order using hierarchical clustering algorithm, put the associated dataset as a node in center of the sunburst, and connected it with the associated leaf nodes in sunburst using colored lines. So, it can present not only two hierarchical structures but also the relationships between them. Based on SONHC and some interaction techniques (clicking, contraction and expansion, etc) we developed an associated visual analyzing system (AVAS) for pesticide residues detection results data, which can help users to inspect the hierarchical structure of pesticide and agricultural products and to explore the associations between pesticides and agricultural products, and associations between different pesticides. The results of user experience test showed that SONHC algorithm overperforms than SA and SR algorithm in ULE and ULE’s variance. AVAS system is effective in helping users to analyze the pesticide residues data. Furthermore, SONHC algorithm can also be adopted to analyze associated hierarchical data in other fields, such as finance, insurance and e-commerce.Graphical Abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]
Cheng, H-C, Hsieh, M-H & Tomamichel, M 2015, 'Exponential Decay of Matrix $Φ$-Entropies on Markov Semigroups with Applications to Dynamical Evolutions of Quantum Ensembles', Journal of Mathematical Physics, 58(9), 092202, Sep 2017, vol. 58, no. 9.
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In the study of Markovian processes, one of the principal achievements is theequivalence between the $\Phi$-Sobolev inequalities and an exponential decreaseof the $\Phi$-entropies. In this work, we develop a framework of Markovsemigroups on matrix-valued functions and generalize the above equivalence tothe exponential decay of matrix $\Phi$-entropies. This result also specializesto spectral gap inequalities and modified logarithmic Sobolev inequalities inthe random matrix setting. To establish the main result, we define anon-commutative generalization of the carr\'e du champ operator, and prove a deBruijn's identity for matrix-valued functions. The proposed Markov semigroups acting on matrix-valued functions haveimmediate applications in the characterization of the dynamical evolution ofquantum ensembles. We consider two special cases of quantum unital channels,namely, the depolarizing channel and the phase-damping channel. In the former,since there exists a unique equilibrium state, we show that the matrix$\Phi$-entropy of the resulting quantum ensemble decays exponentially as timegoes on. Consequently, we obtain a stronger notion of monotonicity of theHolevo quantity - the Holevo quantity of the quantum ensemble decaysexponentially in time and the convergence rate is determined by the modifiedlog-Sobolev inequalities. However, in the latter, the matrix $\Phi$-entropy ofthe quantum ensemble that undergoes the phase-damping Markovian evolutiongenerally will not decay exponentially. This is because there are multipleequilibrium states for such a channel. Finally, we also consider examples of statistical mixing of Markov semigroupson matrix-valued functions. We can explicitly calculate the convergence rate ofa Markovian jump process defined on Boolean hypercubes, and provide upperbounds of the mixing time on these types of examples.
Cheng, J, Kim, J, Shao, J & Zhang, W 2015, 'Robust linear pose graph-based SLAM', Robotics and Autonomous Systems, vol. 72, pp. 71-82.
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Cheng, X, Jiang, Z, Wei, D, Hao, L, Zhao, J & Jiang, L 2015, 'Oxide scale characterization of ferritic stainless steel and its deformation and friction in hot rolling', Tribology International, vol. 84, pp. 61-70.
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Cheng, X, Jiang, Z, Wei, D, Zhao, J, Monaghan, BJ, Longbottom, RJ & Jiang, L 2015, 'High temperature oxidation behaviour of ferritic stainless steel SUS 430 in humid air', Metals and Materials International, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 251-259.
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Cheng, X, Jiang, Z, Zhao, J, Wei, D, Hao, L, Peng, J, Luo, M, Ma, L, Luo, S & Jiang, L 2015, 'Investigation of oxide scale on ferritic stainless steel B445J1M and its tribological effect in hot rolling', Wear, vol. 338-339, pp. 178-188.
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Cheung, BB, Tan, O, Koach, J, Liu, B, Shum, MSY, Carter, DR, Sutton, S, Po'uha, ST, Chesler, L, Haber, M, Norris, MD, Kavallaris, M, Liu, T, O'Neill, GM & Marshall, GM 2015, 'Thymosin‐β4 is a determinant of drug sensitivity for Fenretinide and Vorinostat combination therapy in neuroblastoma', Molecular Oncology, vol. 9, no. 7, pp. 1484-1500.
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AbstractRetinoids are an important component of neuroblastoma therapy at the stage of minimal residual disease, yet 40–50% of patients treated with 13‐cis‐retinoic acid (13‐cis‐RA) still relapse, indicating the need for more effective retinoid therapy. Vorinostat, or Suberoylanilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA), is a potent inhibitor of histone deacetylase (HDAC) classes I & II and has antitumor activity in vitro and in vivo. Fenretinide (4‐HPR) is a synthetic retinoid which acts on cancer cells through both nuclear retinoid receptor and non‐receptor mechanisms. In this study, we found that the combination of 4‐HPR + SAHA exhibited potent cytotoxic effects on neuroblastoma cells, much more effective than 13‐cis‐RA + SAHA. The 4‐HPR + SAHA combination induced caspase‐dependent apoptosis through activation of caspase 3, reduced colony formation and cell migration in vitro, and tumorigenicity in vivo. The 4‐HPR and SAHA combination significantly increased mRNA expression of thymosin‐beta‐4 (Tβ4) and decreased mRNA expression of retinoic acid receptor α (RARα). Importantly, the up‐regulation of Tβ4 and down‐regulation of RARα were both necessary for the 4‐HPR + SAHA cytotoxic effect on neuroblastoma cells. Moreover, Tβ4 knockdown in neuroblastoma cells increased cell migration and blocked the effect of 4‐HPR + SAHA on cell migration and focal adhesion formation. In primary human neuroblastoma tumor tissues, low expression of Tβ4 was associated with metastatic disease and predicted poor patient prognosis. Our findings demonstrate that Tβ4 is a novel therapeutic target in neuroblastoma, and that 4‐HPR + SAHA is a potential therapy for the disease.
Chiaro, G, Indraratna, B & Tasalloti, SMA 2015, 'Predicting the behaviour of coal wash and steel slag mixtures under triaxial conditions', Canadian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 52, no. 3, pp. 367-373.
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The effective reuse and recycling of granular waste materials, namely coal wash (CW) and basic oxygen steel slag (BOS), are economically beneficial and environmentally sustainable. Nevertheless, due to the heterogeneity of these granular waste materials, the ultimate adoption of CW and BOS as structural fills must be supported by constitutive relationships capable of accurately describing the stress–strain behaviour under representative field loading conditions. In this paper, a critical state surface generalized plasticity model is presented, and its predictive capability using an explicit set of soil parameters is demonstrated for drained triaxial compression tests.
Chiaro, G, Indraratna, B, Tasalloti, SMA & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2015, 'Optimisation of coal wash–slag blend as a structural fill', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Ground Improvement, vol. 168, no. 1, pp. 33-44.
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Coal wash (CW) and basic oxygen steel slag fines (BOS) are by-products of the coal mining and steel industries, respectively. Their effective reuse and recycling through large-scale geotechnical projects, such as port reclamation, is economically beneficial and environmentally sustainable. In this study, CW and BOS were blended in order to explore the possibility to obtain synthetic fills having geotechnical properties similar or superior to conventional fills, therefore suitable as a structural fill for the Port Kembla Outer Harbour reclamation near Wollongong City, Australia. A framework with four levels of acceptance is proposed in this paper to select granular waste as structural fill materials. This framework was used for optimising the CW-BOS blend. It was found that for the Port Kembla Outer Harbour reclamation, a CW-BOS blend with a BOS content between 30 and 45% can meet most geotechnical specifications (i.e. high shear strength and bearing capacity, low swelling and particle breakage levels, and adequate permeability) required for a suitable structural fill above the high tidal level.
Chin-Teng Lin, Pal, NR, Shang-Lin Wu, Yu-Ting Liu & Yang-Yin Lin 2015, 'An Interval Type-2 Neural Fuzzy System for Online System Identification and Feature Elimination', IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 26, no. 7, pp. 1442-1455.
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© 2012 IEEE. We propose an integrated mechanism for discarding derogatory features and extraction of fuzzy rules based on an interval type-2 neural fuzzy system (NFS)-in fact, it is a more general scheme that can discard bad features, irrelevant antecedent clauses, and even irrelevant rules. High-dimensional input variable and a large number of rules not only enhance the computational complexity of NFSs but also reduce their interpretability. Therefore, a mechanism for simultaneous extraction of fuzzy rules and reducing the impact of (or eliminating) the inferior features is necessary. The proposed approach, namely an interval type-2 Neural Fuzzy System for online System Identification and Feature Elimination (IT2NFS-SIFE), uses type-2 fuzzy sets to model uncertainties associated with information and data in designing the knowledge base. The consequent part of the IT2NFS-SIFE is of Takagi-Sugeno-Kang type with interval weights. The IT2NFS-SIFE possesses a self-evolving property that can automatically generate fuzzy rules. The poor features can be discarded through the concept of a membership modulator. The antecedent and modulator weights are learned using a gradient descent algorithm. The consequent part weights are tuned via the rule-ordered Kalman filter algorithm to enhance learning effectiveness. Simulation results show that IT2NFS-SIFE not only simplifies the system architecture by eliminating derogatory/irrelevant antecedent clauses, rules, and features but also maintains excellent performance.
Chitambar, E & Hsieh, M-H 2015, 'Relating the Resource Theories of Entanglement and Quantum Coherence', Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 117, no. 2, p. 020402.
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Quantum coherence and quantum entanglement represent two fundamental featuresof non-classical systems that can each be characterized within an operationalresource theory. In this paper, we unify the resource theories of entanglementand coherence by studying their combined behavior in the operational setting oflocal incoherent operations and classical communication (LIOCC). Specificallywe analyze the coherence and entanglement trade-offs in the tasks of stateformation and resource distillation. For pure states we identify the minimumcoherence-entanglement resources needed to generate a given state, and weintroduce a new LIOCC monotone that completely characterizes a state's optimalrate of bipartite coherence distillation. This result allows us to preciselyquantify the difference in operational powers between global incoherentoperations, LIOCC, and local incoherent operations \textit{without} classicalcommunication. Finally, a bipartite mixed state is shown to have distillableentanglement if and only if entanglement can be distilled by LIOCC, and westrengthen the well-known Horodecki criterion for distillability.
Chitambar, E, Fortescue, B & Hsieh, M-H 2015, 'A Classical Analog to Entanglement Reversibility', Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 115, no. 9, pp. 090501-5.
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In this letter we introduce the problem of secrecy reversibility. This askswhen two honest parties can distill secret bits from some tripartitedistribution $p_{XYZ}$ and transform secret bits back into $p_{XYZ}$ at equalrates using local operation and public communication (LOPC). This is theclassical analog to the well-studied problem of reversibly concentrating anddiluting entanglement in a quantum state. We identify the structure ofdistributions possessing reversible secrecy when one of the honest partiesholds a binary distribution, and it is possible that all reversibledistributions have this form. These distributions are more general than what isobtained by simply constructing a classical analog to the family of quantumstates known to have reversible entanglement. An indispensable tool used in ouranalysis is a conditional form of the G\'{a}cs-K\'{o}rner Common Information.
Choo, Y, Mahajan, LH, Gopinadhan, M, Ndaya, D, Deshmukh, P, Kasi, RM & Osuji, CO 2015, 'Phase Behavior of Polylactide-Based Liquid Crystalline Brushlike Block Copolymers', Macromolecules, vol. 48, no. 22, pp. 8315-8322.
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Choudhury, MH, Ciampi, S, Yang, Y, Tavallaie, R, Zhu, Y, Zarei, L, Gonçales, VR & Gooding, JJ 2015, 'Connecting electrodes with light: one wire, many electrodes', Chemical Science, vol. 6, no. 12, pp. 6769-6776.
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The requirement of a wire to each electrode is central to the design of any electronic device but can also be a major restriction. Herein it is shown how electrodes can be connected using light such that a multielectrode device requires only a single physical wire.
Chuang, C-H, Huang, C-S, Ko, L-W & Lin, C-T 2015, 'An EEG-based perceptual function integration network for application to drowsy driving', Knowledge-Based Systems, vol. 80, pp. 143-152.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. Drowsy driving is among the most critical causes of fatal crashes. Thus, the development of an effective algorithm for detecting a driver's cognitive state demands immediate attention. For decades, studies have observed clear evidence using electroencephalography that the brain's rhythmic activities fluctuate from alertness to drowsiness. Recognition of this physiological signal is the major consideration of neural engineering for designing a feasible countermeasure. This study proposed a perceptual function integration system which used spectral features from multiple independent brain sources for application to recognize the driver's vigilance state. The analysis of brain spectral dynamics demonstrated physiological evidenced that the activities of the multiple cortical sources were highly related to the changes of the vigilance state. The system performances showed a robust and improved accuracy as much as 88% higher than any of results performed by a single-source approach.
Clement, S, Deng, W, Drozdowicz-Tomsia, K, Liu, D, Zachreson, C & Goldys, EM 2015, 'Bright, water-soluble CeF3 photo-, cathodo-, and X-ray luminescent nanoparticles', Journal of Nanoparticle Research, vol. 17, no. 1.
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© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Bright, water-soluble CeF3 nanoparticles with small size and narrow size distribution have been synthesized using a simple co-precipitation method without any ligands. Size control of nanoparticles from 13 ± 2 to 9 ± 2 nm was achieved by varying the reaction time. Colloidal properties have been found to vary with pH and, independently, with dilution. The photoluminescence of the as-synthesized nanoparticles shows a highly photostable UV/Visible fluorescence band due to allowed 5d–4f transitions, also observed in the X-ray luminescence spectrum. This band is suitable for X-ray excitation of a range of photosensitizers. The photoluminescence quantum yield of nanoparticles was also determined to be 31 %. Using the measured fluorescence decay time of 25 ns, the radiative lifetime of Ce in CeF3 was found to be 80.6 ns. Both photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence emission are affected by the reaction time and measurement temperature. Electron-beam-induced defect annealing is also observed.
Coles, PJ, Berta, M, Tomamichel, M & Wehner, S 2015, 'Entropic Uncertainty Relations and their Applications', Rev. Mod. Phys., vol. 89, no. 1, pp. 015002-58.
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Heisenberg's uncertainty principle forms a fundamental element of quantummechanics. Uncertainty relations in terms of entropies were initially proposedto deal with conceptual shortcomings in the original formulation of theuncertainty principle and, hence, play an important role in quantumfoundations. More recently, entropic uncertainty relations have emerged as thecentral ingredient in the security analysis of almost all quantum cryptographicprotocols, such as quantum key distribution and two-party quantum cryptography.This review surveys entropic uncertainty relations that capture Heisenberg'sidea that the results of incompatible measurements are impossible to predict,covering both finite- and infinite-dimensional measurements. These ideas arethen extended to incorporate quantum correlations between the observed objectand its environment, allowing for a variety of recent, more generalformulations of the uncertainty principle. Finally, various applications arediscussed, ranging from entanglement witnessing to wave-particle duality toquantum cryptography.
Combes, J & Ferrie, C 2015, 'Cost of postselection in decision theory', Physical Review A, vol. 92, no. 2, pp. 1-9.
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© 2015 American Physical Society. Postselection is the process of discarding outcomes from statistical trials that are not the event one desires. Postselection can be useful in many applications where the cost of getting the wrong event is implicitly high. However, unless this cost is specified exactly, one might conclude that discarding all data is optimal. Here we analyze the optimal decision rules and quantum measurements in a decision theoretic setting where a prespecified cost is assigned to discarding data. Our scheme interpolates between unambiguous state discrimination (when the cost of postselection is zero) and a minimum error measurement (when the cost of postselection is maximal). We also relate our formulation to previous approaches which focus on minimizing the probability of indecision.
Connerty, P, Ahadi, A & Hutvagner, G 2015, 'RNA Binding Proteins in the miRNA Pathway', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 31-31.
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microRNAs (miRNAs) are short ~22 nucleotides (nt) ribonucleic acids which post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression. miRNAs are key regulators of all cellular processes, and the correct expression of miRNAs in an organism is crucial for proper development and cellular function. As a result, the miRNA biogenesis pathway is highly regulated. In this review, we outline the basic steps of miRNA biogenesis and miRNA mediated gene regulation focusing on the role of RNA binding proteins (RBPs). We also describe multiple mechanisms that regulate the canonical miRNA pathway, which depends on a wide range of RBPs. Moreover, we hypothesise that the interaction between miRNA regulation and RBPs is potentially more widespread based on the analysis of available high-throughput datasets.
Cook, AJ, Gargiulo, GD, Lehmann, T & Hamilton, TJ 2015, 'Open platform, eight‐channel, portable bio‐potential and activity data logger for wearable medical device development', Electronics Letters, vol. 51, no. 21, pp. 1641-1643.
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© 2015 The Institution of Engineering and Technology. The design of a wearable, portable and reconfigurable physical activity and an eight-channel bio-potential data logger, capable of increasing compliance by enabling customised feedback (i.e. calories expenditure and amount of physical activity) is presented while recording clinically meaningful information regarding a subject's health. Here an application of the device to the cardio-vascular system comprising simultaneous recording of ECG and activity in both resting and under-stress conditions is presented (clinical trials are performed under the supervision of expert cardiologists at Prince of Wales Hospital NSW, Australia). The designed device (based around the low-power LPC1768 ARM processor and the bio-potential front-end ADS1298) is an open-source one and is provided under the GPL GNU 3.0 collaborative licence.
Cooper, CS, Mukunthan, A, Safaei, F, Ros, M, Franklin, DR & Abolhasan, M 2015, 'Including general environmental effects in K-factor approximation for rice-distributed VANET channels.', Phys. Commun., vol. 14, pp. 32-44.
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This paper presents a method of approximating the Rician K-factor based on the instantaneous static environment. The strongest signal propagation paths are resolved in order to determine specular and diffuse powers for approximation. The model is experimentally validated in two different urban areas in New South Wales, Australia. Good agreement between the model and experimental data was obtained over short-range communication links, demonstrating the suitability of the model in urban VANETs. The paper concludes with recommendations for methods to account for vehicles in the simulation and incorporating additional phenomena (such as scattering) in the approximation.
Corsetti, S, Miles, REH, McDonald, C, Belotti, Y, Reid, JP, Kiefer, J & McGloin, D 2015, 'Probing the Evaporation Dynamics of Ethanol/Gasoline Biofuel Blends Using Single Droplet Manipulation Techniques', The Journal of Physical Chemistry A, vol. 119, no. 51, pp. 12797-12804.
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Corsetti, S, Zehentbauer, FM, McGloin, D & Kiefer, J 2015, 'Characterization of gasoline/ethanol blends by infrared and excess infrared spectroscopy', Fuel, vol. 141, pp. 136-142.
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Cowern, NEB, Simdyankin, S, Goss, JP, Napolitani, E, De Salvador, D, Bruno, E, Mirabella, S, Ahn, C & Bennett, NS 2015, 'Comment on “Diffusion of n-type dopants in germanium” [Appl. Phys. Rev. 1, 011301 (2014)]', Applied Physics Reviews, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 036101-036101.
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The authors of the above paper call into question recent evidence on the properties of self-interstitials, I, in Ge [Cowern et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 155501 (2013)]. We show that this judgment stems from invalid model assumptions during analysis of data on B marker-layer diffusion during proton irradiation, and that a corrected analysis fully supports the reported evidence. As previously stated, I-mediated self-diffusion in Ge exhibits two distinct regimes of temperature, T: high-T, dominated by amorphous-like mono-interstitial clusters—i-morphs—with self-diffusion entropy ≈30 k, and low-T, where transport is dominated by simple self-interstitials. In a transitional range centered on 475 °C both mechanisms contribute. The experimental I migration energy of 1.84 ± 0.26 eV reported by the Münster group based on measurements of self-diffusion during irradiation at 550 °C < T < 680 °C further establishes our proposed i-morph mechanism.
Cui, H, Wang, X, Zhou, J, Eberl, S, Feng, D & Fulham, M 2015, 'Improved segmentation accuracy for thoracic PET-CT in patients with NSCLC using a multi-graph model (MGM)', JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE, vol. 56, no. 3, pp. 2527-2527.
Cui, H, Wang, X, Zhou, J, Eberl, S, Yin, Y, Feng, D & Fulham, M 2015, 'Topology polymorphism graph for lung tumor segmentation in PET-CT images', Physics in Medicine and Biology, vol. 60, no. 12, pp. 4893-4914.
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Cui, H, Xu, F & Saha, SC 2015, 'A three-dimensional simulation of transient natural convection in a triangular cavity', International Journal of Heat and Mass Transfer, vol. 85, pp. 1012-1022.
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Cui, SX, Yu, N & Zeng, B 2015, 'Generalized graph states based on Hadamard matrices', Journal of Mathematical Physics, vol. 56, no. 7, pp. 072201-072201.
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Graph states are widely used in quantum information theory, including entanglement theory, quantum error correction, and one-way quantum computing. Graph states have a nice structure related to a certain graph, which is given by either a stabilizer group or an encoding circuit, both can be directly given by the graph. To generalize graph states, whose stabilizer groups are abelian subgroups of the Pauli group, one approach taken is to study non-abelian stabilizers. In this work, we propose to generalize graph states based on the encoding circuit, which is completely determined by the graph and a Hadamard matrix. We study the entanglement structures of these generalized graph states and show that they are all maximally mixed locally. We also explore the relationship between the equivalence of Hadamard matrices and local equivalence of the corresponding generalized graph states. This leads to a natural generalization of the Pauli (X, Z) pairs, which characterizes the local symmetries of these generalized graph states. Our approach is also naturally generalized to construct graph quantum codes which are beyond stabilizer codes.
da Rocha, CG & Kemmer, SL 2015, 'Closure to “Method to Implement Delayed Product Differentiation in Construction of High-Rise Apartment Building Projects” by Cecília Gravina da Rocha and Sergio Luiz Kemmer', Journal of Construction Engineering and Management, vol. 141, no. 2, pp. 07014004-07014004.
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Dadras, M, Shafri, HZM, Ahmad, N, Pradhan, B & Safarpour, S 2015, 'Spatio-temporal analysis of urban growth from remote sensing data in Bandar Abbas city, Iran', The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing and Space Science, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 35-52.
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Dang, HQ, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Rejection and adsorption behaviour of phytoestrogens by nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membranes', Desalination and Water Treatment, vol. 54, no. 4-5, pp. 890-899.
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Dangniam, N & Ferrie, C 2015, 'Quantum Bochner’s theorem for phase spaces built on projective representations', Journal of Physics A: Mathematical and Theoretical, vol. 48, no. 11, pp. 115305-115305.
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DarwishAlzughaibi, A, Ahmed Hakami, H & Chaczko, Z 2015, 'Review of Human Motion Detection based on Background Subtraction Techniques', International Journal of Computer Applications, vol. 122, no. 13, pp. 1-5.
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For the majority of computer vision applications, the ability
to identify and detect objects in motion has become a crucial
necessity. Background subtraction, also referred to as foreground
detection is an innovation used with image processing and
computer vision fields when trying to detect an object in motion
within videos from static cameras. This is done by deducting the
present image from the image in the background or background
module. There has been comprehensive research done in this field
as an effort to precisely obtain the region for the use of further
processing (e.g. object recognition). This paper provides a review
of the human motion detection methods focusing on background
subtraction technique
Dehbokry, S & Chew, EK 2015, 'Developing Business Architecture for SMEs: A Strategic Tool for Capability Orchestration and Managing Dynamisms', Journal of Innovation Management in Small and Medium Enterprise, vol. 2015, pp. 1-9.
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Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly faced with competitive pressure due to swift and constant change to the dynamic and highly interconnected environment in which they operate. Competing in this dynamic ecosystem, SMEs need a strategic tool for managing co-evolution with the dynamic environment in order to create sustained value. Drawing from the specific SME characteristics operating in a collaborative network ecosystem of firms, this paper elicits the specific strategic management requirements that need to be satisfied by a Business Architecture. Extensive exploratory literature review and semi-structured interviews are used to explicate the underlying drivers of SME’s requirements for business architecture that need to be addressed by the requisite BA practice. The paper finds that, the BA practice must possess the capabilities to guide and assist the SMEs to adapt with the dynamic collaborative ecosystem of firms and sense, leverage and orchestrate the network of resources and ICT capabilities to create sustained value. This paper concludes with some guidelines for developing the business architecture-enabled journey toward creating sustained value within the said dynamic ecosystem.
Dehnavi, A, Aghdam, IN, Pradhan, B & Morshed Varzandeh, MH 2015, 'A new hybrid model using step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) technique and adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) for regional landslide hazard assessment in Iran', CATENA, vol. 135, pp. 122-148.
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Deng, L, Guo, W, Ngo, HH, Zuthi, MFR, Zhang, J, Liang, S, Li, J, Wang, J & Zhang, X 2015, 'Membrane fouling reduction and improvement of sludge characteristics by bioflocculant addition in submerged membrane bioreactor', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 156, pp. 450-458.
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Deng, S, Wang, D, Li, X & Xu, G 2015, 'Exploring user emotion in microblogs for music recommendation', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 42, no. 23, pp. 9284-9293.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Context-aware recommendation has become increasingly important and popular in recent years when users are immersed in enormous music contents and have difficulty to make their choices. User emotion, as one of the most important contexts, has the potential to improve music recommendation, but has not yet been fully explored due to the great difficulty of emotion acquisition. This article utilizes users' microblogs to extract their emotions at different granularity levels and during different time windows. The approach then correlates three elements: user, music and the user's emotion when he/she is listening to the music piece. Based on the associations extracted from a data set crawled from a Chinese Twitter service, we develop several emotion-aware methods to perform music recommendation. We conduct a series of experiments and show that the proposed solution proves that considering user emotional context can indeed improve recommendation performance in terms of hit rate, precision, recall, and F1 score.
Deng, W, Farnham, MMJ, Goldys, EM, Mohammed, S & Pilowsky, PM 2015, 'Gene Interference with Morpholinos in a Gold Nanoparticle-Based Delivery Platform in Rat PC12 Cells', Journal of Biomedical Nanotechnology, vol. 11, no. 12, pp. 2111-2123.
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Deng, Z, Cao, L, Jiang, Y & Wang, S 2015, 'Minimax Probability TSK Fuzzy System Classifier: A More Transparent and Highly Interpretable Classification Model', IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 813-826.
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© 1993-2012 IEEE. When an intelligent model is used for medical diagnosis, it is desirable to have a high level of interpretability and transparent model reliability for users. Compared with most of the existing intelligence models, fuzzy systems have shown a distinctive advantage in their interpretabilities. However, how to determine the model reliability of a fuzzy system trained for a recognition task is still an unsolved problem at present. In this study, a minimax probability Takagi-Sugeno-Kang (TSK) fuzzy system classifier called MP-TSK-FSC is proposed to train a fuzzy system classifier and determine the model reliability simultaneously. For the proposed MP-TSK-FSC, a lower bound of correct classification can be presented to the users to characterize the reliability of the trained fuzzy classifier. Thus, the obtained classifier has the distinctive characteristics of both a high level of interpretability and transparent model reliability inherited from the fuzzy system and minimax probability learning strategy, respectively. Our experiments on synthetic datasets and several real-world datasets for medical diagnosis have confirmed the distinctive characteristics of the proposed method.
Di Bartolo, BA, Cartland, SP, Prado‐Lourenco, L, Griffith, TS, Gentile, C, Ravindran, J, Azahri, NSM, Thai, T, Yeung, AWS, Thomas, SR & Kavurma, MM 2015, 'Tumor Necrosis Factor–Related Apoptosis‐Inducing Ligand (TRAIL) Promotes Angiogenesis and Ischemia‐Induced Neovascularization Via NADPH Oxidase 4 (NOX4) and Nitric Oxide–Dependent Mechanisms', Journal of the American Heart Association, vol. 4, no. 11.
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Background Tumor necrosis factor–related apoptosis‐inducing ligand ( TRAIL ) has the ability to inhibit angiogenesis by inducing endothelial cell death, as well as being able to promote pro‐angiogenic activity in vitro. These seemingly opposite effects make its role in ischemic disease unclear. Using Trail −/− and wildtype mice, we sought to determine the role of TRAIL in angiogenesis and neovascularization following hindlimb ischemia. Methods and Results Reduced vascularization assessed by real‐time 3‐dimensional Vevo ultrasound imaging and CD 31 staining was evident in Trail −/− mice after ischemia, and associated with reduced capillary formation and increased apoptosis. Notably, adenoviral TRAIL administration significantly improved limb perfusion, capillary density, and vascular smooth‐muscle cell content in both Trail −/− and wildtype mice. Fibroblast growth factor‐2, a potent angiogeni...
Dibs, H, Mansor, S, Ahmad, N & Pradhan, B 2015, 'Band-to-band registration model for near-equatorial Earth observation satellite images with the use of automatic control point extraction', International Journal of Remote Sensing, vol. 36, no. 8, pp. 2184-2200.
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Ding, C, Guo, YJ, Qin, P-Y & Yang, Y 2015, 'A Compact Microstrip Phase Shifter Employing Reconfigurable Defected Microstrip Structure (RDMS) for Phased Array Antennas', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ANTENNAS AND PROPAGATION, vol. 63, no. 5, pp. 1985-1996.
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© 1963-2012 IEEE. A compact phase shifter using reconfigurable defected microstrip structure (RDMS) is proposed for phased array antennas. A complete phase shifter design scheme that serves as an engineering guidance is described. Stepwise phase shifters that have phase-shifting ranges of 90° and 180° with a step size of 45° are designed, fabricated, and tested. The experimental results demonstrate that the size, maximum insertion loss of the phase shifters, and the quantity of the lumped elements are reduced by 80%-90%, 25%-30%, and 50%, respectively, compared to our previous work. Subsequently, a four-element phased array is built employing such RDMS-based phase shifters, realizing a size reduction of 55% in the array size. The measurement results show that the phased array antenna is able to switch its main beam between -15°, 0°, and 15° in the H-plane, with the average realized gain around 10 dBi.
Ding, F, Han, X, Zhang, N & Luo, Z 2015, 'Characteristic analysis of pitch-resistant hydraulically interconnected suspensions for two-axle vehicles', Journal of Vibration and Control, vol. 21, no. 16, pp. 3167-3188.
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This paper proposes a new method to investigate the characteristics of pitch-resistant hydraulically interconnected suspension (HIS) systems for two-axle vehicles in the pitch plane. The equations of motion for the mechanical and hydraulic coupled system are developed, in which the hydraulic strut forces are derived using the impedance transfer matrix method. The stiffness and damping matrices of the coupled systems are described in a manner similar to the generalized form of uncoupled conventional suspension (UCS) systems. The additional properties of HIS systems are explicitly described via hydraulic physical parameters. Based on the generalized form, (1) the accumulators of HIS systems can be functionally equivalent to a combined system with tandem bump and pitch-angular springs; (2) the direction damper valves (DDVs), which are located at the outlets of actuator cylinders, function like uncoupled tandem dampers; (3) the pitch damper valves (PDVs), which are fitted on the hose to connect the accumulators, alter the mode damping similar to the accumulators changing the mode stiffness; (4) the opposite installation corresponding to the schematic of front piston-rod-upward and rear piston-rod-downward produces higher mode stiffness and damping than the other installations. The dynamic responses are studied between the vehicles with HIS and UCS. Moreover, the damping coefficients are evaluated with the modal analysis method. The obtained results indicate that (1) the top and bottom DDVs mainly affect the vehicle body’s pitch motion and bounce vibration, respectively, (2) the PDVs are able to alter the load distribution among wheel stations, and (3) damping parameters can be designed to minimize the vehicle body’s pitch motion.
Ding, J, Dutkiewicz, E & Huang, X 2015, 'Joint optimal relay location and power allocation for ultra-wideband-based wireless body area networks', EURASIP Journal on Wireless Communications and Networking, vol. 2015, no. 1.
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© 2015, Ding et al.; licensee Springer. In this paper, we study the joint optimal relay location and power allocation problem for single-relay-assisted ultra-wideband (UWB)-based wireless body area networks (WBANs). Specifically, to optimize spectral efficiency (SE) for single-relay cooperative communication in UWB-based WBANs, we seek the relay with the optimal location together with the corresponding optimal power allocation. With proposed relay-location-based network models, the SE maximization problems are mathematically formulated by considering three practical scenarios, namely, along-torso scenario, around-torso scenario, and in-body scenario. Taking into account realistic power considerations for each scenario, the optimal relay location and power allocation are jointly derived and analyzed. Numerical results show the necessity of utilization of relay node for the spectral and energy-efficient transmission in UWB-based WBANs and demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed scheme in particular for the around-torso and in-body scenarios. With the joint optimal relay location and power allocation, the proposed scheme is able to prolong the network lifetime and extend the transmission range in WBANs significantly compared to direct transmission.
Ding, Y, Huang, W, Sheng, D & Sloan, SW 2015, 'Numerical study on finite element implementation of hypoplastic models', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 68, pp. 78-90.
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Dinh, VA, Giri, PC, Rathinavel, I, Nguyen, E, Hecht, D, Dorotta, I, Nguyen, HB & Chrissian, AA 2015, 'Impact of a 2-Day Critical Care Ultrasound Course during Fellowship Training: A Pilot Study', Critical Care Research and Practice, vol. 2015, pp. 1-8.
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Objectives. Despite the increasing utilization of point-of-care critical care ultrasonography (CCUS), standards establishing competency for its use are lacking. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a 2-day CCUS course implementation on ultrasound-naïve critical care medicine (CCM) fellows.Methods. Prospective evaluation of the impact of a two-day CCUS course on eight CCM fellows’ attitudes, proficiency, and use of CCUS. Ultrasound competency on multiple organ systems was assessed including abdominal, pulmonary, vascular, and cardiac systems. Subjects served as self-controls and were assessed just prior to, within 1 week after, and 3 months after the course.Results. There was a significant improvement in CCM fellows’ written test scores, image acquisition ability, and pathologic image interpretation 1 week after the course and it was retained 3 months after the course. Fellows also had self-reported increased confidence and usage of CCUS applications after the course.Conclusions. Implementation of a 2-day critical care ultrasound course covering general CCUS and basic critical care echocardiography using a combination of didactics, live models, and ultrasound simulators is effective in improving critical care fellows’ proficiency and confidence with ultrasound use in both the short- and long-term settings.
Diyaljee, V 2015, 'Discussion of “Behavior of Geocell-Reinforced Subballast Subjected to Cyclic Loading in Plane-Strain Condition” by Buddhima Indraratna, M. Mahdi Biabani, and Sanjay Nimbalkar', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 141, no. 10, pp. 07015027-07015027.
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Dodd, JM, Ahmed, S, Karnon, J, Umberger, W, Deussen, AR, Tran, T, Grivell, RM, Crowther, CA, Turnbull, D, McPhee, AJ, Wittert, G, Owens, JA & Robinson, JS 2015, 'The cost-effectiveness of providing antenatal lifestyle advice for women who are overweight or obese: the LIMIT randomised trial', BMC Obesity, vol. 2, no. 1, p. 14.
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BACKGROUND: Overweight and obesity during pregnancy is common, although robust evidence about the economic implications of providing an antenatal dietary and lifestyle intervention for women who are overweight or obese is lacking. We conducted a health economic evaluation in parallel with the LIMIT randomised trial. Women with a singleton pregnancy, between 10(+0)-20(+0) weeks, and BMI ≥25 kg/m(2) were randomised to Lifestyle Advice (a comprehensive antenatal dietary and lifestyle intervention) or Standard Care. The economic evaluation took the perspective of the health care system and its patients, and compared costs encountered from the additional use of resources from time of randomisation until six weeks postpartum. Increments in health outcomes for both the woman and infant were considered in the cost-effectiveness analysis. Mean costs and effects in the treatment groups allocated at randomisation were compared, and incremental cost effectiveness ratios (ICERs) and confidence intervals (95%) calculated. Bootstrapping was used to confirm the estimated confidence intervals, and to generate acceptability curves representing the probability of the intervention being cost-effective at alternative monetary equivalent values for the outcomes avoiding high infant birth weight, and respiratory distress syndrome. Analyses utilised intention to treat principles. RESULTS: Overall, the increase in mean costs associated with providing the intervention was offset by savings associated with improved immediate neonatal outcomes, rendering the intervention cost neutral (Lifestyle Advice Group $11261.19±$14573.97 versus Standard Care Group $11306.70±$14562.02; p=0.094). Using a monetary value of $20,000 as a threshold value for avoiding an additional infant with birth weight above 4 kg, the probability that the antenatal intervention is cost-effective is 0.85, which increases to 0.95 when the threshold monetary value increases to $45,000. CONCLUSIONS: Providing an an...
Dong, H & Hussain, FK 2015, 'Service-requester-centered service selection and ranking model for digital transportation ecosystems', COMPUTING, vol. 97, no. 1, pp. 79-102.
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Transport services are a fundamental utility that drives human society. A Digital Transportation Ecosystem is a sub-system of the Digital Ecosystem, which uses ICT resources to facilitate transport service transactions. This research focuses on the selection and ranking of online transport service information. The previous research in this area has been unable to achieve satisfactory performance or give sufficient freedom to service requesters to rank services based on their preferences. `User-centered design is a broad term to describe how end-users influence system design. In this research, we propose a Service-Requester-Centered Service Selection and Ranking Model, guided by the philosophy of user-centered design. Three major sub-models are involved in this model: a model for assisting service requesters to search appropriate transport service ontology concepts to denote their service requests, a model for enhancing the accuracy of automatic transport service concept recommendation by observing service requesters click behaviours, and a model for enabling service-requester-preference-based service ranking. Implementations and empirical experiments are conducted to evaluate the three sub-models and the drawn conclusions along with directions for future work are outlined.
Dong, Y, Fan, Z-P & Yu, S 2015, 'Consensus Building in a Local Context for the AHP-GDM With the Individual Numerical Scale and Prioritization Method', IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, vol. 23, no. 2, pp. 354-368.
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Dorrell, DG & Salah, A 2015, 'Detection of Rotor Eccentricity in Wound Rotor Induction Machines Using Pole-Specific Search Coils', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON MAGNETICS, vol. 51, no. 11.
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© 2015 IEEE. This paper addresses the need to detect the rotor radial position in an electrical machine. When it is not centered, it is referred to as rotor eccentricity. Cage induction machines can use the detection of sideband currents, and this is studied extensively elsewhere. Wound rotor induction machines do not generate the same sidebands, so an alternative detection method is needed. These machines are now popular generators in wind turbines. A simple method using pole-specific search coils is introduced, and a theory is developed to illustrate that rotor eccentricity leads to the generation of air-gap flux waves with pole-pairs that are pm ± 1. This is tested using search coils in a 4-pole wound rotor machine. The method is found to successfully indicate the presence of rotor eccentricity.
Dovey, K & Rembach, M 2015, 'Invisible practices; innovative outcomes: intrapreneurship within the academy', Action Learning: Research and Practice, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 276-292.
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Across the world, higher education is facing new challenges as governments cut subsidies, new technologies enable ‘massively open’ online courses, students are accessed from global locations, and the centuries-old mission of universities is commercialised. In spite of these profound changes, most institutions of higher education have remained unaltered in terms of how they are structured and governed. Similarly, the consequent commodification of knowledge has not been challenged in general even though the lack of the deep knowledge that underpins competent professional practice is periodically lamented. This paper outlines an experiment in an alternative form of academic programme management; one which is perhaps more appropriate in current times. It describes an initiative at an Australian university where an action-research approach is being used to engage the full spectrum of stakeholders in the governance and execution of the strategic intent of a particular ‘flagship’ postgraduate programme. In this way, it demonstrates how knowing (knowledge manifesting in practice) is achieved through a form of praxis that continuously refines, through interactive ‘creatively abrasive’ forums, the enactment of mission-pertinent practices. However, as an initiative that threatens the political status quo within the university, much of the action, until recently, has had to be conducted ‘invisibly’.
Dragos, J & Wu, C 2015, 'Single-Degree-of-Freedom Approach to Incorporate Axial Load Effects on Pressure Impulse Curves for Steel Columns', Journal of Engineering Mechanics, vol. 141, no. 1, pp. 04014098-04014098.
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© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers. In this paper, the moment-curvature behavior of a steel column under constant axial loading is implemented into a computationally efficient one-dimensional finite-element approach, utilizing Timoshenko beam theory, to determine the dynamic response of steel columns subjected to blasts. Then, a new single-degree-of-freedom (SDOF) approach is provided for determining pressure impulse curves for steel columns under constant axial loading. This SDOF approach relies on the newly defined concept of the reduced resistance-deflection function to accurately simulate the PΔ effects and the global instability failure mechanism, which are both caused by the axial load. The aforementioned finite-element approach is then used to thoroughly validate the newly proposed SDOF approach for deriving pressure impulse curves. It is shown that, despite the inherent simplicity of the approach, the newly proposed SDOF approach provides accurate and reliable results.
Du, J, Wang, J, Zhang, T, Bai, D, Guo, YJ & He, Y 2015, 'Demonstration of a Portable HTS MMIC Microwave Receiver Front-End', IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 1-4.
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© 2014 IEEE. We report the first demonstration of a portable HTS monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) receiver front-end module operating on a commercial mini cryocooler. The HTS circuit consists of a step-edge junction mixer and a number of HTS filters fabricated on a single MgO substrate. The HTS MMIC circuit is integrated with the mini cryocooler. The sample vacuum chamber, cold-head, compressor and cooling fans are all packed into one customer-designed portable box of approximately 350 mm × 350 mm × 250 mm in dimension. The HTS Josephson junction-based microwave circuit operated successfully in the cryocooler unshielded without observable performance degradation. The design and implementation of the compact unit and performance evaluation of a HTS MMIC frequency down-converter are presented.
Du, Y, Lu, DD-C, Chu, GML & Xiao, W 2015, 'Closed-Form Solution of Time-Varying Model and Its Applications for Output Current Harmonics in Two-Stage PV Inverter', IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 142-150.
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Duan, N, Xu, W, Wang, S, Zhu, J & Guo, Y 2015, 'A new Preisach type hysteresis model of high temperature superconductors', Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 117, no. 17, pp. 17A718-17A718.
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This paper presents a new Preisach type hysteresis model for the high temperature superconductor. This model requires only the limiting hysteresis loop as the input data, and for this model, the limiting hysteresis loop is first separated into two limiting M−H loops based on the mechanisms, which can then be modeled by two separate modified Preisach algorithms. The area integrations of the Preisach distribution functions are determined only based on the limiting M−H loops. The validity and accuracy of this model is confirmed by comparing the simulation and experiment results of Bi-2223 and YBa2Cu3Ox superconducting tapes with external magnetic fields.
Duan, N, Xu, W, Wang, S, Zhu, J & Guo, Y 2015, 'Hysteresis Modeling of High-Temperature Superconductor Using Simplified Preisach Model', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 1-4.
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Duan, R, Severini, S & Winter, A 2015, 'On zero-error communication via quantum channels in the presence of noiseless feedback', IEEE Trans. Inf. Theory, vol. 62, no. 9, pp. 9-5277.
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We initiate the study of zero-error communication via quantum channels whenthe receiver and sender have at their disposal a noiseless feedback channel ofunlimited quantum capacity, generalizing Shannon's zero-error communicationtheory with instantaneous feedback. We first show that this capacity is a function only of the linear span ofChoi-Kraus operators of the channel, which generalizes the bipartiteequivocation graph of a classical channel, and which we dub 'non-commutativebipartite graph'. Then we go on to show that the feedback-assisted capacity isnon-zero (with constant activating noiseless communication) if and only if thenon-commutative bipartite graph is non-trivial, and give a number of equivalentcharacterizations. This result involves a far-reaching extension of the'conclusive exclusion' of quantum states [Pusey/Barrett/Rudolph, Nature Phys.8:475-478]. We then present an upper bound on the feedback-assisted zero-error capacity,motivated by a conjecture originally made by Shannon and proved later byAhlswede. We demonstrate this bound to have many good properties, includingbeing additive and given by a minimax formula. We also prove that this quantityis the entanglement-assisted capacity against an adversarially chosen channelfrom the set of all channels with the same Choi-Kraus span, which can also beinterpreted as the feedback-assisted unambiguous capacity. The proof relies ona generalization of the 'Postselection Lemma' [Christandl/Koenig/Renner, PRL102:020504] that allows to reflect additional constraints, and which we believeto be of independent interest. We illustrate our ideas with a number of examples, includingclassical-quantum channels and Weyl diagonal channels, and close with anextensive discussion of open questions.
Dunk, AM & Gardner, A 2015, 'The contribution of pressure gradients to advancing understanding of deep tissue injury to sacral regions', WOUND PRACTICE AND RESEARCH, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 116-122.
Duong, HC, Cooper, P, Nelemans, B, Cath, TY & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Optimising thermal efficiency of direct contact membrane distillation by brine recycling for small-scale seawater desalination', Desalination, vol. 374, pp. 1-9.
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Duong, HC, Gray, S, Duke, M, Cath, TY & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Scaling control during membrane distillation of coal seam gas reverse osmosis brine', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 493, pp. 673-682.
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Eickelmann, M, Schallow, J, Sousanabady, RJ & Deuse, J 2015, 'Lebenszyklusübergreifende Qualitätsservices', Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb, vol. 110, no. 4, pp. 167-171.
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Kurzfassung Moderne Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien ermöglichen die umfassende Speicherung großer Datenmengen, ihre Auswertung wird jedoch oftmals nicht hinreichend fokussiert. Insbesondere für das Qualitätsmanagement ist die effektive Nutzung qualitätsrelevanter Daten zur Entscheidungsunterstützung von höchster Bedeutung. Dieser Beitrag präsentiert einen Ansatz des handhabbaren Datenmanagements sowie der aufwandsarmen Analyse und Prognose qualitätsspezifischer Größen zur Realisierung eines übergreifenden, prädiktiven Qualitätsmanagements.
Eickelmann, M, Wiegand, M, Konrad, B & Deuse, J 2015, 'Die Bedeutung von Data-Mining im Kontext von Industrie 4.0', Zeitschrift für wirtschaftlichen Fabrikbetrieb, vol. 110, no. 11, pp. 738-743.
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Kurzfassung Moderne Informations- und Kommunikationstechnologien ermöglichen die umfassende Speicherung großer Datenmengen, ihre Auswertung wird jedoch oftmals nicht hinreichend fokussiert. Insbesondere die effektive Nutzung des in den Informationsspeichern vorhandenen Wissens zur prädiktiven Entscheidungs- und Planungsunterstützung ist von höchster Bedeutung. Dieser Beitrag beschreibt am Beispiel drei unterschiedlicher, anwendungsspezifischer Ansätze der Wissensentdeckung die zunehmende Relevanz des Data-Mining im Produktlebenszyklus.
Elson, KM, Fox, N, Tipper, JL, Kirkham, J, Hall, RM, Fisher, J & Ingham, E 2015, 'Non-destructive monitoring of viability in an ex vivo organ culture model of osteochondral tissue', European Cells and Materials, vol. 29, pp. 356-369.
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Fadavi Boostani, A, Tahamtan, S, Jiang, ZY, Wei, D, Yazdani, S, Azari Khosroshahi, R, Taherzadeh Mousavian, R, Xu, J, Zhang, X & Gong, D 2015, 'Enhanced tensile properties of aluminium matrix composites reinforced with graphene encapsulated SiC nanoparticles', Composites Part A: Applied Science and Manufacturing, vol. 68, pp. 155-163.
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Fadavi Boostani, A, Yazdani, S, Taherzadeh Mousavian, R, Tahamtan, S, Azari Khosroshahi, R, Wei, D, Brabazon, D, Xu, JZ, Zhang, XM & Jiang, ZY 2015, 'Strengthening mechanisms of graphene sheets in aluminium matrix nanocomposites', Materials & Design, vol. 88, pp. 983-989.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Uniform dispersion of SiC nanoparticles with a high propensity to agglomerate within a thixoformed aluminium matrix was attained using a graphene encapsulating approach. The analytical model devised in this study has demonstrated the significant role of shear lag and thermally activated dislocation mechanisms in strengthening aluminium metal matrix composites due to the exceptional negative thermal expansion coefficient of graphene sheets. This, in turn, triggers the pinning capacity of nano-sized rod-liked aluminium carbide, prompting strong interface bonding for SiC nanoparticles with the matrix, thereby enhancing tensile elongation.
Faizi, K, Jahed Armaghani, D, Sohaei, H, Rashid, ASA & Nazir, R 2015, 'Deformation model of sand around short piles under pullout test', Measurement, vol. 63, pp. 110-119.
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Fan, H, Hussain, FK & Hussain, OK 2015, 'Semantic client-side approach for web personalization of SaaS-based cloud services', CONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION-PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, vol. 27, no. 8, pp. 2144-2169.
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Fan, H, Hussain, FK, Younas, M & Hussain, OK 2015, 'An integrated personalization framework for SaaS-based cloud services', Future Generation Computer Systems, vol. 53, pp. 157-173.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Software as a Service (SaaS) has recently emerged as one of the most popular service delivery models in cloud computing. The number of SaaS services and their users is continuously increasing and new SaaS service providers emerge on a regular basis. As users are exposed to a wide range of SaaS services, they may soon become more demanding when receiving/consuming such services. Similar to the web and/or mobile applications, personalization can play a critical role in modern SaaS-based cloud services. This paper introduces a fully designed, cloud-enabled personalization framework to facilitate the collection of preferences and the delivery of corresponding SaaS services. The approach we adapt in the design and development of the proposed framework is to synthesize various models and techniques in a novel way. The objective is to provide an integrated and structured environment wherein SaaS services can be provisioned with enhanced personalization quality and performance.
Fan, X, Cao, L & Da Xu, RY 2015, 'Dynamic Infinite Mixed-Membership Stochastic Blockmodel', IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, vol. 26, no. 9, pp. 2072-2085.
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© 2014 IEEE. Directional and pairwise measurements are often used to model interactions in a social network setting. The mixed-membership stochastic blockmodel (MMSB) was a seminal work in this area, and its ability has been extended. However, models such as MMSB face particular challenges in modeling dynamic networks, for example, with the unknown number of communities. Accordingly, this paper proposes a dynamic infinite mixed-membership stochastic blockmodel, a generalized framework that extends the existing work to potentially infinite communities inside a network in dynamic settings (i.e., networks are observed over time). Additional model parameters are introduced to reflect the degree of persistence among one's memberships at consecutive time stamps. Under this framework, two specific models, namely mixture time variant and mixture time invariant models, are proposed to depict two different time correlation structures. Two effective posterior sampling strategies and their results are presented, respectively, using synthetic and real-world data.
Fang, J, Gao, Y, Sun, G, Qiu, N & Li, Q 2015, 'On design of multi-cell tubes under axial and oblique impact loads', Thin-Walled Structures, vol. 95, pp. 115-126.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Multi-cell tubes have been drawn increasing attention for their excellent energy-absorbing ability. However, the effect of cell number and oblique loads on crashing behaviors has seldom been studied to date. In this paper, a group of multi-cell tubes with different cell numbers were comprehensively investigated under both axial and oblique loads. The finite element models were first established and then validated by experimental tests. The simulation results showed that the increase in cell number can be beneficial to the energy absorption (EA) but detrimental due to increase in peak force (Fmax) under axial load. When the oblique loads were taken into account, the tubes could undergo global bending, which is an inefficient deformation mode. By applying complex proportional assessment (COPRAS) method, the 7 × 7 tube was selected as the best based on multi-criteria under multiple loading angles. Then the Kriging modeling technique and multiobjective particle optimization (MOPSO) algorithm were integrated to address the optimization problems, where EA and Fmax were taken as objectives and tube sizes as design variables. The results demonstrated that different loading angles have different requirements on cell allocation and optimizations of multiple load cases (MLC) can yield better solutions in a weighted average fashion, whereas the optimization for separate single load cases (SLC) could result in inferior performance under other load cases.
Fang, J, Gao, Y, Sun, G, Xu, C & Li, Q 2015, 'Multiobjective robust design optimization of fatigue life for a truck cab', Reliability Engineering & System Safety, vol. 135, pp. 1-8.
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© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Structural optimization for vehicle fatigue durability signifies an exciting topic of research to improve its long-term safety and performance with minimum cost. Nevertheless, majority of the existing studies has been dealing with deterministic optimization and has not involved uncertainties, which could lead to an unstable or even useless design in practice. In order to simultaneously enhance the performance and robustness of the fatigue life for a truck cab, a multiobjective optimization is proposed in this study. After validating the simulation model, different dual surrogate modeling (DSM) methods are attempted to overcome the limitation of classical dual response surface (DRS) method; and subsequently the most accurate model, namely dual Kriging (DKRG) in this case, is selected through a comparative study. Then, the multiobjective particle swarm optimization (MOPSO) algorithm is adopted to perform the optimization. Compared with traditional single objective optimization strategies which yield only one specific optimum, MOPSO allows producing a set of non-dominated solutions over the entire Pareto space for a non-convex problem, which provides designers with more insightful information. Finally, a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) model, which integrates the techniques of order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) with grey relation analysis (GRA), is implemented to find a best compromise optimum from the Pareto set. The selected optimum demonstrated not only to improve the fatigue life of the truck cab, but also to enable the design less sensitive to presence of uncertainties.
Fang, J, Gao, Y, Sun, G, Xu, C, Zhang, Y & Li, Q 2015, 'Optimization of Spot-Welded Joints Combined Artificial Bee Colony Algorithm with Sequential Kriging Optimization', Advances in Mechanical Engineering, vol. 6, no. 0, pp. 573694-573694.
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© 2014 Jianguang Fang et al. Generally, spot-welded joints are the weakest parts of structures leading to fatigue failure under fluctuating loads. Therefore, it is important to optimize the spot weld to improve the fatigue life. However, a classical optimization of the spot weld often directly couples finite element analysis (FEA) with optimization algorithm, which may fall into a local optimum or be expensive computationally. In this study, a metamodel-based optimization procedure is proposed to find the optimum locations of spot-welded joints for maximum fatigue life. Based on the initial training points, Kriging model is implemented to approximate the objective function regarding the design variables (i.e., locations of spot welds). To further overcome the defect of traditional Kriging model and improve the accuracy of optimum results, the sequential Kriging optimization (SKO) is utilized, where the Kriging model is updated iteratively by adding new training points to the training dataset till the global optimum is obtained. The optimization is run using artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm and the results show that our proposed method is able to improve the performance of the spot-welded joint. More importantly, more competent optimum can be found and the optimization can be executed more efficiently, compared to the conventional methods.
Fang, J, Gao, Y, Sun, G, Zheng, G & Li, Q 2015, 'Dynamic crashing behavior of new extrudable multi-cell tubes with a functionally graded thickness', International Journal of Mechanical Sciences, vol. 103, pp. 63-73.
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© 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Multi-cell structures have been extensively studied for their outstanding performance as potential energy absorbers. Unlike existing multi-cell tubes with a uniform thickness (UT), this paper introduces a functionally graded thickness (FGT) to multi-cell tubes under dynamic impact, which can be fabricated by an extrusion process. A numerical model is first established using the nonlinear finite element analysis code LS-DYNA and validated with experimental data. Based on a numerical study, the thickness gradient parameters in different regions have considerable effects on the crashworthiness of the FGT multi-cell tubes. Moreover, the FGT multi-cell tubes are able to absorb more energy while yielding a similar level of peak impact force to the UT multi-cell tubes. Finally, multiobjective optimizations of the UT and FGT multi-cell tubes are then performed to determine the optimal gradient parameters that simultaneously improve the specific energy absorption (SEA) and reduce the maximum impact force. In these optimizations, the multiobjective particle optimization (MOPSO) algorithm and response surface (RS) surrogate modeling technique are adopted. The optimization results demonstrate that the FGT multi-cell tubes produce more competent Pareto solutions than the conventional UT counterparts; similar gradients in the outer walls and stronger internal ribs are recommended for the FGT multi-cell tubes because of their improved interactions.
Fang, Z, Jiang, Z, Wang, X, Zhou, C, Wei, D & Liu, X 2015, 'Grain size effect of thickness/average grain size on mechanical behaviour, fracture mechanism and constitutive model for phosphor bronze foil', The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, vol. 79, no. 9-12, pp. 1905-1914.
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© 2015, Springer-Verlag London. Size effects play a significant role in microforming process, and any dimensional change can have a great impact on materials’ mechanical properties. In this paper, the size effects on deformation behaviour and fracture of phosphor foil were investigated in the form of grain size effect: the ratio of materials’ thickness (T) to average grain size (D) by micro tensile tests. The ratio was designed to be closed to but larger than, less than and equal to 1, respectively. The results show that the amount of plastic deformation decreases with the decrease of the ratio of T/D, which indicates that the grain size plays a significant role and grain deformation modes differ when the ratio changes. It is also found that their fractograph reflects different features in terms of micro-dimples and cleavage planes, further demonstrating that when T/D >1, its materials have a tendency to fracture ductilely, while materials would like to conduct brittle fracture when T/D <1. So the ratio of T/D which is close to 1 can be regarded as the divide of ductile fracture and brittle fracture. For T/D <1, a new constitutive model is proposed based on the classic composite model. The model’s results are compared with the experimental ones and the efficiency of the developed models is verified.
Fang, Z, Jiang, Z, Wei, D & Liu, X 2015, 'Study on springback in micro V-bending with consideration of grain heterogeneity', The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology, vol. 78, no. 5-8, pp. 1075-1085.
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© 2014, Springer-Verlag London. With the new development of microforming technology, the demand on the accuracy of the metallic microcomponents is elevating. Springback phenomenon is inevitable during sheet metal forming process and can cause unpredicted dimensional error. The previous research found that the springback value in microforming is difficult to be assessed as the sizes of tools and specimens downsize hundreds even thousands times. This paper focuses on improving the prediction accuracy of springback during micro V-bending. A finite element (FE) model of the micro V-bending has been established via ABAQUS/Standard commercial software where the specimen’s microstructure is represented by Voronoi tessellations. With the consideration of the grain heterogeneity, each Voronoi tessellation has been employed with different grain mechanical properties based on experimental results. Corresponding micro V-bending tests have been carried out, and a good agreement between the experimental and simulation results indicates that the developed FE model can accurately predict springback in micro V-bending.
Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 2015, 'Influence of Chemical Stabilisation on Permeability of Municipal Solid Wastes', Geotechnical and Geological Engineering, vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 455-466.
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© 2014, Springer International Publishing Switzerland. There are a number of important challenges in redevelopment of closed landfill sites including high permeation, complexity in settlement behaviour, weak shear strength, gas emission as well as health and safety issues. This paper is a part of a thorough experimental study on chemically stabilised old landfill sites. The decomposed waste materials were collected from Bankstown landfill located in the south-west of Sydney. The samples were prepared by mixing MSW, with a mixture of fly ash–quicklime with a ratio of 3:1 in percentages of 5, 10, 15 and 20 of fly ash by dry weight of the MSW. Permeability of treated and untreated MSW samples has been estimated during consolidation of MSW specimens in an automated triaxial cell. According to the results, increasing the content of fly ash–quicklime in the MSW specimen reduced the coefficient of permeability, the coefficient of consolidation and the permeability change index (Ck). The coefficient of permeability for an untreated specimen was 6.2 × 10−8 m/s and this figure was reduced to 3.2 × 10−8 m/s in specimens mixed with 26 % fly ash–quicklime (under an average confining pressure of 250 kPa). Increasing the effective confining pressure up to the pre-consolidation pressure caused no significant change in the coefficient of permeability. However at higher pressures the reduction was tangible. It is found that the chemical stabilisation effectively reduces the permeability of the MSW layer. This reduction in the coefficient of permeability can be attributed to a reduction in the bleed channels and void spaces due to the conversion of soluble calcium hydroxide to cementitious compounds. It will be beneficial and effective in redevelopment of closed landfill sites incorporating chemical treatments. The outcomes of this study may facilitate the hydraulic properties of chemically treated closed landfill sites.
Fauzi, H, Metselaar, HSC, Mahlia, TMI, Silakhori, M & Ong, HC 2015, 'Thermal characteristic reliability of fatty acid binary mixtures as phase change materials (PCMs) for thermal energy storage applications', Applied Thermal Engineering, vol. 80, pp. 127-131.
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Feng, L, Ong, Y-S, Lim, M-H & Tsang, IW 2015, 'Memetic Search With Interdomain Learning: A Realization Between CVRP and CARP', IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 644-658.
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© 1997-2012 IEEE. In recent decades, a plethora of dedicated evolutionary algorithms (EAs) have been crafted to solve domain-specific complex problems more efficiently. Many advanced EAs have relied on the incorporation of domain-specific knowledge as inductive biases that is deemed to fit the problem of interest well. As such, the embedment of domain knowledge about the underlying problem within the search algorithms is becoming an established mode of enhancing evolutionary search performance. In this paper, we present a study on evolutionary memetic computing paradigm that is capable of learning and evolving knowledge meme that traverses different but related problem domains, for greater search efficiency. Focusing on combinatorial optimization as the area of study, a realization of the proposed approach is investigated on two NP-hard problem domains (i.e., capacitated vehicle routing problem and capacitated arc routing problem). Empirical studies on well-established routing problems and their respective state-of-the-art optimization solvers are presented to study the potential benefits of leveraging knowledge memes that are learned from different but related problem domains on future evolutionary search.
Feng, L, Ong, Y-S, Tan, A-H & Tsang, IW 2015, 'Memes as building blocks: a case study on evolutionary optimization + transfer learning for routing problems', Memetic Computing, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 159-180.
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Ferrie, C & Blume-Kohout, R 2015, 'Minimax quantum tomography: the ultimate bounds on accuracy', Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 116, no. 9, p. 090407.
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A minimax estimator has the minimum possible error ('risk') in the worstcase. We construct the first minimax estimators for quantum state tomographywith relative entropy risk. The minimax risk of non-adaptive tomography scalesas $O(1/\sqrt{N})$, in contrast to that of classical probability estimationwhich is $O(1/N)$. We trace this deficiency to sampling mismatch: futureobservations that determine risk may come from a different sample space thanthe past data that determine the estimate. This makes minimax estimators verybiased, and we propose a computationally tractable alternative with similarbehavior in the worst case, but superior accuracy on most states.
Fitch, R, Sukkarieh, S, Bergerman, M & van Henten, E 2015, '2015 IEEE RAS Summer School on Agricultural Robotics', IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 96-98.
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Agricultural robotics is an area of growing interest with the potential to bring about profound economic and social benefits. Interest in this area is motivated by the need to improve the industries and processes that feed the planet. Autonomous systems are currently being developed for tasks such as pruning, thinning, harvesting, mowing, targeted spraying, nonchemical weed control, and high-resolution crop surveillance. A new cohort of people in agriculture will develop, commercialize, and operate such systems. Social events played an important part in the success of the school. On the first day, participants introduced themselves via a lightning round that consisted of a rapid sequence of single-slide, 60-s presentations. A participant poster session followed, promoting informal discussion in a semistructured environment.
Fournier-Viger, P, Wu, C-W, Tseng, VS, Cao, L & Nkambou, R 2015, 'Mining Partially-Ordered Sequential Rules Common to Multiple Sequences', IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, vol. 27, no. 8, pp. 2203-2216.
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Frati, F, Gaspers, S, Gudmundsson, J & Mathieson, L 2015, 'Augmenting Graphs to Minimize the Diameter', Algorithmica, vol. 72, no. 4, pp. 995-1010.
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© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York. We study the problem of augmenting a weighted graph by inserting edges of bounded total cost while minimizing the diameter of the augmented graph. Our main result is an FPT $$4$$4-approximation algorithm for the problem.
Friesen, M, Hamed, A, Lee, T & Oliver Theis, D 2015, 'Fooling-sets and rank', European Journal of Combinatorics, vol. 48, pp. 143-153.
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Fu, Q, McKenzie, TG, Tan, S, Nam, E & Qiao, GG 2015, 'Tertiary amine catalyzed photo-induced controlled radical polymerization of methacrylates', Polymer Chemistry, vol. 6, no. 30, pp. 5362-5368.
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A novel tertiary amine catalyst and trithiocarbonate synergistic photo-induced controlled radical polymerization of methacrylates has been realized under mild UV irradiation, yielding polymethacrylates with low molecular weight distributions and excellent end-group fidelity.
Fu, Q, Xu, J, Ladewig, K, Henderson, TMA & Qiao, GG 2015, 'Degradable cross-linked polymer vesicles for the efficient delivery of platinum drugs', Polymer Chemistry, vol. 6, no. 1, pp. 35-43.
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Nontoxic and acid-degradable polymer vesicles were synthesized as drug carriers. In vitro dose–response cytotoxicity studies suggested that the drug-loaded polymer vesicles were more efficient in delivering cis-platin into cancer cells compared to the internalization of the free drug.
Fujioka, T & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Fouling control of a ceramic microfiltration membrane for direct sewer mining by backwashing with ozonated water', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 142, pp. 268-273.
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Fujioka, T, Khan, SJ, McDonald, JA & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Rejection of trace organic chemicals by a hollow fibre cellulose triacetate reverse osmosis membrane', Desalination, vol. 368, pp. 69-75.
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Fujioka, T, Khan, SJ, McDonald, JA & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Rejection of trace organic chemicals by a nanofiltration membrane: the role of molecular properties and effects of caustic cleaning', Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, vol. 1, no. 6, pp. 846-854.
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The aim of this study was to provide further insights to the rejection mechanisms of trace organic chemicals (TrOCs) by nanofiltration (NF).
Fujioka, T, Khan, SJ, McDonald, JA & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Validating the rejection of trace organic chemicals by reverse osmosis membranes using a pilot-scale system', Desalination, vol. 358, pp. 18-26.
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Fujioka, T, Oshima, N, Suzuki, R, Higgins, M, Price, WE, Henderson, RK & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Effect of heat treatment on fouling resistance and the rejection of small and neutral solutes by reverse osmosis membranes', Water Supply, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 510-516.
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The effects of heat treatment on membrane fouling resistance and the rejection of small and neutral solutes by reverse osmosis (RO) membranes were elucidated. RO membrane modification by heat treatment reduced fouling and improved boron rejection. However, heat treatment also caused a decrease in the water permeability of RO membranes. Significant improvement on fouling resistance by heat treatment was observed when RO concentrate was used to simulate a feed solution with high fouling propensity. The improved fouling resistance is likely to be due to changes in the hydrophobic interaction between the membrane surface and foulants. Boron rejection by the ESPA2 membrane was enhanced by heat treatment from 26 to 68% (when evaluated at the permeate flux of 20 L/m2 h). Positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy revealed that heat treatment did not significantly influence the free-volume hole-radius of the membrane active skin layer. The results reported in this study suggested that changes in the other membrane properties such as free-volume fraction and thickness may be the main cause improving boron rejection.
Fujita, H & Lu, J 2015, 'Editorial for the special issue: 25th Anniversary of Knowledge-Based Systems', Knowledge-Based Systems, vol. 80, pp. 1-2.
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Gallego-Ortega, D, Ledger, A, Roden, DL, Law, AMK, Magenau, A, Kikhtyak, Z, Cho, C, Allerdice, SL, Lee, HJ, Valdes-Mora, F, Herrmann, D, Salomon, R, Young, AIJ, Lee, BY, Sergio, CM, Kaplan, W, Piggin, C, Conway, JRW, Rabinovich, B, Millar, EKA, Oakes, SR, Chtanova, T, Swarbrick, A, Naylor, MJ, O’Toole, S, Green, AR, Timpson, P, Gee, JMW, Ellis, IO, Clark, SJ & Ormandy, CJ 2015, 'ELF5 Drives Lung Metastasis in Luminal Breast Cancer through Recruitment of Gr1+ CD11b+ Myeloid-Derived Suppressor Cells', PLOS Biology, vol. 13, no. 12, pp. e1002330-e1002330.
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Galloux, J, Chekli, L, Phuntsho, S, Tijing, LD, Jeong, S, Zhao, YX, Gao, BY, Park, SH & Shon, HK 2015, 'Coagulation performance and floc characteristics of polytitanium tetrachloride and titanium tetrachloride compared with ferric chloride for coal mining wastewater treatment', SEPARATION AND PURIFICATION TECHNOLOGY, vol. 152, pp. 94-100.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Abstract The production and discharge of large volumes of wastewater during coal mining activities are one of the major environmental issues in Australia. Therefore, it is crucial to develop and optimise effective treatment processes for the safe disposal of coal mining wastewater (CMWW). In this study, we investigated the performance of a recently developed polytitanium tetrachloride (PTC) coagulant and compared with the performance of titanium tetrachloride (TiCl4) and the commonly used ferric chloride (FeCl3) coagulant for the treatment of CMWW from one of the coal mining sites in Australia. The use of Ti-based coagulants is particularly attractive for the CMWW treatment due to the advantage of being able to recycle the sludge to produce functional titanium dioxide (TiO2) photocatalyst; unlike the flocs formed using conventional coagulants, which need to be disposed in landfill sites. The results showed that both PTC and TiCl4 performed better than FeCl3 in terms of turbidity, UV254 and inorganic compounds (e.g. aluminium, copper or zinc) removal, however, PTC performed poorly in terms of dissolved organic carbon removal (i.e. less than 10%). While charge neutralisation and bridging adsorption were the main coagulation mechanisms identified for TiCl4 treatment; sweep coagulation and bridging adsorption seemed to play a more important role for both PTC and FeCl3 treatments. The flocs formed by PTC coagulation achieved the largest floc size of around 900 μm with the highest floc growth rate. Both Ti-based coagulants (i.e., PTC and TiCl4) showed higher strength factor than FeCl3, while TiCl4 coagulant yielded the flocs with the highest recovery factor. This study indicates that Ti-based coagulants are effective and promising coagulants for the treatment of CMWW.
GANDOMI, AH & ALAVI, AH 2015, 'AN INTRODUCTION OF KRILL HERD ALGORITHM FOR ENGINEERING OPTIMIZATION', JOURNAL OF CIVIL ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 302-310.
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A new metaheuristic optimization algorithm, called Krill Herd (KH), has been recently proposed by Gandomi and Alavi (2012). In this study, KH is introduced for solving engineering optimization problems. For more verification, KH is applied to six design problems reported in the literature. Further, the performance of the KH algorithm is compared with that of various algorithms representative of the state-of-the-art in the area. The comparisons show that the results obtained by KH are better than the best solutions obtained by the existing methods.
Gandomi, AH & Roke, DA 2015, 'Assessment of artificial neural network and genetic programming as predictive tools', Advances in Engineering Software, vol. 88, pp. 63-72.
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Soft computing techniques have been widely used during the last two decades for nonlinear system modeling, specifically as predictive tools. In this study, the performances of two well-known soft computing predictive techniques, artificial neural network (ANN) and genetic programming (GP), are evaluated based on several criteria, including over-fitting potential. A case study in punching shear prediction of RC slabs is modeled here using a hybrid ANN (which includes simulated annealing and multi-layer perception) and an established GP variant called gene expression programming. The ANN and GP results are compared to values determined from several design codes. For more verification, external validation and parametric studies were also conducted. The results of this study indicate that model acceptance criteria should include engineering analysis from parametric studies.
Gandomi, AH & Yun, GJ 2015, 'Coupled SelfSim and genetic programming for non-linear material constitutive modelling', Inverse Problems in Science and Engineering, vol. 23, no. 7, pp. 1101-1119.
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In the present study, an improved SelfSim is combined with a recent genetic programming technique called linear GP (LGP) for the inverse extraction of non-linear material behaviour. The SelfSim prepares a comprehensive database including stresses and strains of the structural elements. Then, a steady-state LGP is used to formulate the strain–stress relationship. In this research, a space truss with a reference material model is used as a hypothetical structure. The derived LGP-based formula is very simple and can be employed for design and pre-design purposes. The implementation of LGP-based model is also tested in a general purpose finite element programme. Since the proposed model is an explicit formula, its implementation becomes standard and practically useful. The results show that the procedure is reliable and can be used to derive and formulate the non-linear constitutive material models with a high degree of accuracy.
Gandomi, AH, Faramarzifar, A, Rezaee, PG, Asghari, A & Talatahari, S 2015, 'NEW DESIGN EQUATIONS FOR ELASTIC MODULUS OF CONCRETE USING MULTI EXPRESSION PROGRAMMING', Journal of Civil Engineering and Management, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 761-774.
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An innovative multi expression programming (MEP) approach is used to derive new predictive equations for tangent elastic modulus of normal strength concrete (NSC) and high strength concrete (HSC). Similar to several building codes, the modulus of elasticity of NSC and HSC is formulated in terms of concrete compressive strength. Furthermore, a generic model is developed for the estimation of the elastic modulus of both NSC and HSC. Comprehensive databases are gathered from the literature to develop the models. For more verification, a parametric analysis is carried out and discussed. The proposed formulas are found to be accurate for the prediction of the elastic modulus of NSC and HSC. The predictions made by the MEP-based models are more accurate than those obtained by the existing models.
Gandomi, AH, Kashani, AR, Mousavi, M & Jalalvandi, M 2015, 'Slope stability analyzing using recent swarm intelligence techniques', International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, vol. 39, no. 3, pp. 295-309.
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SummarySlope stability analysis of soil with a weak layer sandwiched between two strong layers is considered as a complex geotechnical problem. In this problem, the objective function is non‐convex and discontinuous with the presence of multiple strong local minima. Classical optimization techniques fail to converge to a valid solution unless a proper initial trial is adopted. Even though many new optimization algorithms have emerged, they have not been applied to geotechnical problems yet. In the present study, some recent swarm intelligence algorithms are adopted for some complicated example of slope stability problems and benchmarked with the traditional particle swarm optimization algorithm. From the results, it seems the levy flight krill herd algorithm is the most efficient method over proposed algorithms for this kind of problem. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Gandomi, AH, Kashani, AR, Roke, DA & Mousavi, M 2015, 'Optimization of retaining wall design using recent swarm intelligence techniques', Engineering Structures, vol. 103, pp. 72-84.
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In this paper, cantilever retaining wall design is studied as an important optimization task in civil engineering. The current study explores the efficiency of some recent swarm intelligence techniques: accelerated particle swarm optimization (APSO), firefly algorithm (FA), and cuckoo search (CS). These algorithms are verified using two benchmark case studies. In order to better determine the proficiency of the utilized algorithms, they are benchmarked with the particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, a classical swarm intelligence algorithm. To that end, a code is developed to model retaining wall design based on the ACI 318-05 procedure. In this study, continuous variables are used for wall geometry and discrete variables are used for steel reinforcement to optimize the structural design. Moreover, the sensitivity of the proposed algorithms to surcharge load, base soil friction angle, and backfill slope are investigated with respect to the geometry and design parameters. Though CS and PSO reached nearly identical lowest cost and lowest weight designs of the wall under two case studies, CS has lower values for standard deviation, mean, and worst design, and therefore may be a better optimization algorithm for engineering design.
Gao, F, Musial, K, Cooper, C & Tsoka, S 2015, 'Link Prediction Methods and Their Accuracy for Different Social Networks and Network Metrics', Scientific Programming, vol. 2015, pp. 1-13.
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Currently, we are experiencing a rapid growth of the number of social-based online systems. The availability of the vast amounts of data gathered in those systems brings new challenges that we face when trying to analyse it. One of the intensively researched topics is theprediction of social connections between users. Although a lot of effort has been made to develop new prediction approaches, the existing methods are not comprehensively analysed. In this paper we investigate the correlation between network metrics and accuracy of different prediction methods. We selected six time-stamped real-world social networks and ten most widely used link prediction methods. The results of the experiments show that the performance of some methods has a strong correlation with certain network metrics. We managed to distinguish “prediction friendly” networks, for which most of the prediction methods give good performance, as well as “prediction unfriendly” networks, for which most of the methods result in high prediction error. Correlation analysis between network metrics and prediction accuracy of prediction methods may form the basis of a metalearning system where based on network characteristics it will be able to recommend the right prediction method for a given network.
Gao, S, Chamberlain, NF & Guo, YJ 2015, 'Guest Editorial Antennas for Satellite Communications', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 63, no. 4, pp. 1186-1190.
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© 1963-2012 IEEE. The objective of this special issue is to bring together the most updated research contributions addressing antennas for satellite communications (both spaceborne and user terminals), and propose new applications, solutions, and challenges for the future.
Gao, T, Wang, XC, Chen, R, Ngo, HH & Guo, W 2015, 'Disability adjusted life year (DALY): A useful tool for quantitative assessment of environmental pollution', Science of The Total Environment, vol. 511, pp. 268-287.
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© 2014 Elsevier B.V. Disability adjusted life year (DALY) has been widely used since 1990s for evaluating global and/or regional burden of diseases. As many environmental pollutants are hazardous to human health, DALY is also recognized as an indicator to quantify the health impact of environmental pollution related to disease burden. Based on literature reviews, this article aims to give an overview of the applicable methodologies and research directions for using DALY as a tool for quantitative assessment of environmental pollution. With an introduction of the methodological framework of DALY, the requirements on data collection and manipulation for quantifying disease burdens are summarized. Regarding environmental pollutants hazardous to human beings, health effect/risk evaluation is indispensable for transforming pollution data into disease data through exposure and dose-response analyses which need careful selection of models and determination of parameters. Following the methodological discussions, real cases are analyzed with attention paid to chemical pollutants and pathogens usually encountered in environmental pollution. It can be seen from existing studies that DALY is advantageous over conventional environmental impact assessment for quantification and comparison of the risks resulted from environmental pollution. However, further studies are still required to standardize the methods of health effect evaluation regarding varied pollutants under varied circumstances before DALY calculation.
Gao, X, Jiang, Z, Wei, D & Kosasih, B 2015, 'Effect of thermomechanical treatment on sliding wear of high-Cr cast iron with large plastic deformation', Tribology International, vol. 92, pp. 117-125.
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Gay, V & Leijdekkers, P 2015, 'Bringing Health and Fitness Data Together for Connected Health Care: Mobile Apps as Enablers of Interoperability', JOURNAL OF MEDICAL INTERNET RESEARCH, vol. 17, no. 11.
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Background: A transformation is underway regarding how we deal with our health. Mobile devices make it possible to have continuous access to personal health information. Wearable devices, such as Fitbit and Apple’s smartwatch, can collect data continuously and provide insights into our health and fitness. However, lack of interoperability and the presence of data silos prevent users and health professionals from getting an integrated view of health and fitness data. To provide better health outcomes, a complete picture is needed which combines informal health and fitness data collected by the user together with official health records collected by health professionals. Mobile apps are well positioned to play an important role in the aggregation since they can tap into these official and informal health and data silos.
Objective: The objective of this paper is to demonstrate that a mobile app can be used to aggregate health and fitness data and can enable interoperability. It discusses various technical interoperability challenges encountered while integrating data into one place.
Methods: For 8 years, we have worked with third-party partners, including wearable device manufacturers, electronic health record providers, and app developers, to connect an Android app to their (wearable) devices, back-end servers, and systems.
Results: The result of this research is a health and fitness app called myFitnessCompanion, which enables users to aggregate their data in one place. Over 6000 users use the app worldwide to aggregate their health and fitness data. It demonstrates that mobile apps can be used to enable interoperability. Challenges encountered in the research process included the different wireless protocols and standards used to communicate with wireless devices, the diversity of security and authorization protocols used to be able to exchange data with servers, and lack of standards usage, such as Health Level Seven, for medical information exchange.
Conclusion...
Gefferth, A, Molnár, S & Veitch, D 2015, 'Discrete Self-Similarity'.
Gentile, C, Chuang, CY, Drake, CJ & Davies, MJ 2015, 'Abstract 310: Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor and Endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase-mediated Regulation of Cardiomyocyte Proliferation During Development in Humans and Mice', Circulation Research, vol. 117, no. suppl_1.
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Our previous studies in early mouse embryonic development (E8.2) showing that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) are expressed in embryonic endothelial cells, but not in embryonic cardiomyocytes, together with the findings by others indicating that NO is required for cardiomyocyte proliferation in mice, led us to investigate the relevancy of the VEGF/eNOS signaling pathway during cardiovascular development. First, wild type and NOS3 knockout mouse embryos between E8.0 and E17.0 were stained with antibodies against smooth muscle α-actin, phospho-histone H3 (PH3), VEGFR2 and PECAM, markers of cardiomyocytes, proliferating, progenitor and endothelial cells, respectively. Our confocal analysis showed hearts of E8.0 NOS3 nulls develop normally. However, E8.5 and E9.5 NOS3 nulls have reduced cardiomyocyte proliferation and impaired heart development. As consequence, hearts of E17 NOS3 nulls were approximately 20% smaller compared to wildtype hearts. To translate our findings to humans, we stained human heart specimens with antibodies against VEGFR2, eNOS, PH3 and sarcomeric α-actinin. Confocal analyses showed for the first time that VEGFR2 is highly expressed in the perinuclear region of human cardiomyocytes of a young donor. They also showed a correlation between eNOS expression and cardiomyocyte proliferation in humans. Consequently, we developed an in vitro three-dimensional co-culture model of human endothelial cells, cardiomyocytes and fibroblasts: “human cardiac tissue spheroids” (HCTSs). Our data showed that laminin and collagen type IV synthesis is increased in VEGF-treated HCTSs generated using CMs from an older donor compared to untreated cultures, suggesting a role for VEGF and eNOS in postnatal human heart development. In conclusion, our data showed that VEGF and eNOS play a similar role in mediating cardiomyocytes proliferation and heart regeneration in both mice and humans. Current stud...
Gentile, C, Chuang, CY, Drake, CJ & Davies, MJ 2015, 'The VEGF/eNOS Signaling Pathway Plays a Critical Role in Mouse and Human Cardiomyocyte Proliferation', Free Radical Biology and Medicine, vol. 87, pp. S50-S50.
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George, L, Gargiulo, GD, Lehmann, T & Hamilton, TJ 2015, 'Concept Design for a 1-Lead Wearable/Implantable ECG Front-End: Power Management', Sensors, vol. 15, no. 11, pp. 29297-29315.
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Power supply quality and stability are critical for wearable and implantable biomedical applications. For this reason we have designed a reconfigurable switched-capacitor DC-DC converter that, aside from having an extremely small footprint (with an active on-chip area of only 0.04 mm2), uses a novel output voltage control method based upon a combination of adaptive gain and discrete frequency scaling control schemes. This novel DC-DC converter achieves a measured output voltage range of 1.0 to 2.2 V with power delivery up to 7.5 mW with 75% efficiency. In this paper, we present the use of this converter as a power supply for a concept design of a wearable (15 mm × 15 mm) 1-lead ECG front-end sensor device that simultaneously harvests power and communicates with external receivers when exposed to a suitable RF field. Due to voltage range limitations of the fabrication process of the current prototype chip, we focus our analysis solely on the power supply of the ECG front-end whose design is also detailed in this paper. Measurement results show not just that the power supplied is regulated, clean and does not infringe upon the ECG bandwidth, but that there is negligible difference between signals acquired using standard linear power-supplies and when the power is regulated by our power management chip.
Ghias, AMYM, Pou, J, Capella, GJ, Agelidis, VG, Aguilera, RP & Meynard, T 2015, 'Single-Carrier Phase-Disposition PWM Implementation for Multilevel Flying Capacitor Converters', IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, vol. 30, no. 10, pp. 5376-5380.
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© 2015 IEEE. This letter proposes a new implementation of phase-disposition pulse-width modulation (PD-PWM) for multilevel flying capacitor (FC) converters using a single triangular carrier. The proposed implementation is much simpler than conventional PD-PWM techniques based on multiple trapezoidal-shaped carriers, generates the same results as far as natural capacitor voltage balance is concerned and offers better quality line-to-line voltages when compared to phase-shifted PWM. The proposed algorithm is based on reshaping the reference signal to fit within the range of a single carrier and assigning each crossing of the reference signal with the carrier to a particular pair of switches at any time. The proposed algorithm is suitable for digital implementation taking maximum benefit from the PWM units available in the processor. Simulation and experimental results are presented from the five-level FC converter to verify the proposed PD-PWM implementation.
Ghobadi, Y, Pradhan, B, Sayyad, GA, Kabiri, K & Falamarzi, Y 2015, 'Simulation of hydrological processes and effects of engineering projects on the Karkheh River Basin and its wetland using SWAT2009', Quaternary International, vol. 374, pp. 144-153.
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Ghobadi, Y, Pradhan, B, Shafri, HZM & Kabiri, K 2015, 'Assessment of spatial relationship between land surface temperature and landuse/cover retrieval from multi-temporal remote sensing data in South Karkheh Sub-basin, Iran', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 8, no. 1, pp. 525-537.
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Ghobadi, Y, Pradhan, B, Shafri, HZM, bin Ahmad, N & Kabiri, K 2015, 'Spatio-temporal remotely sensed data for analysis of the shrinkage and shifting in the Al Hawizeh wetland', Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, vol. 187, no. 1, p. 4156.
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Ghosh, S & Li, J 2015, 'Using sequential patterns as features for classification models to make accurate predictions on ICU events.', Annu Int Conf IEEE Eng Med Biol Soc, vol. 2015, pp. 8157-8160.
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Pattern mining algorithms have previously been utilized to extract informative rules in various clinical contexts. However, the number of generated patterns are numerous. In most cases, the extracted rules are directly investigated by clinicians for understanding disease diagnoses. The elicitation of important patterns for clinical investigation places a significant demand for precision and interpretability. Hence, it is essential to obtain a set of informative interpretable patterns for building advanced learning models about a patient's physiological condition, specially in critical care units. In this study, a two stage sequential contrast patterns based classification framework is presented, which is used to detect critical patient events like hypotension. In the first stage, we obtain a set of sequential patterns by using a contrast mining algorithm. These sequential patterns undergo post-processing, for conversion to binary valued and frequency based features for developing a classification model, in the second stage. Our results on eight critical care datasets demonstrate better predictive capabilities, when sequential patterns are used as features.
Gill, A, Bunker, D & Seltsikas, P 2015, 'Moving Forward: Emerging Themes in Financial Services Technologies’ Adoption', Communications of the Association for Information Systems, vol. 36, pp. 205-230.
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© 2015 by the Association for Information Systems. Financial services technologies (FST) are core to the continuous transformation of financial services organizations (FSO). To date, however, there has been a lack of empirical research into FST adoption against the backdrop of the recent financial crisis. In this paper, we re-examine how FSO are currently positioned to take advantage of emerging FST. Note that, in this paper, we look forward rather than provide a commentary on the state of the art in technology adoption research. We conducted this research by applying an exploratory qualitative study method: we analyzed interview transcripts from thirty recent interviews of FSO technology executives and CIOs by using a thematic network analysis tool. This analysis uncovered nineteen basic, eight organizing, and two global FST adoption research themes along with their links to FST adoption objectives, challenges, customer centricity, human resources, outsourcing, and overall IT strategy maintenance. This research has both practical and theoretical research implications and serves as a resource base for FSO and researchers to set future research priorities and directions. We intend for the emerging themes that we present in this paper to facilitate research directions by shedding light on the areas of greatest value and potential return in FST adoption.
Gill, AQ 2015, 'Agile enterprise architecture modelling: Evaluating the applicability and integration of six modelling standards.', Inf. Softw. Technol., vol. 67, pp. 196-206.
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Gill, AQ 2015, 'Distributed Agile Development: Applying a Coverage Analysis Approach to the Evaluation of a Communication Technology Assessment Tool.', Int. J. e Collab., vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 57-76.
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Copyright © 2015, IGI Global. Organizations have shown a significant interest in the adoption of emerging social technologies to support communication and collaboration needs of their Distributed Agile or Adaptive Development Environment (DADE). However, the challenge is how best to assess contemporary social technologies for supporting communication and collaboration in the DADE. Here, a communication technology assessment tool, called CTAT, is developed as a part of the Adaptive Enterprise Service System (AESS) toolkit by using the design research approach. This paper presents the evaluation of the CTAT construct through its use in the assessment of three social technologies within the context of a DADE. The results of this evaluation indicate that CTAT is shown to be useful, for example, when assessing a particular social technology for a specific DADE communication and collaboration context. The CTAT is intended to be used by senior developers for assessing social technologies for their DADE context.
Gill, AQ 2015, 'Social architecture considerations in assessing social media for emergency information management applications', Australian Journal of Emergency Management, vol. 30, no. 1, pp. 17-21.
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The emergency management industry is showing a significant interest in the adoption of social media for sourcing and disseminating crisis information. The emergency management industry needs to identify social architecture concerns when considering the adoption of a specific social media technology. Social architecture describes the properties and environment of a social system such as the 'emergency management system'. This paper identifies a set of 21 social architecture concerns based on recent qualitative research. This set of social architecture concerns can be used as a criteria list to assess the effectiveness of social media platforms for emergency information management applications.
Gill, AQ & Qureshi, MA 2015, 'Adaptive Enterprise Architecture Modelling.', J. Softw., vol. 10, no. 5, pp. 628-638.
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Agile or adaptive enterprise architecture driven software development approach requires a modelling standard to describe the existing and to-be developed artifacts both at the high enterprise level and low, detailed level. However, a single modelling standard may not be used off-the-shelf to fully support the modelling needs of an adaptive enterprise architecture driven software development needs. The modelling standards need to be systematically analyzed and integrated for a particular modelling context. This paper reviews two well-known modeling standards ArchiMate and BPMN by using the interoperability research framework. Based on the syntax, semantics and structural analysis of these two modelling standards’ metamodels, it proposes a hybrid adaptive enterprise architecture modelling approach for describing and analysing the artifacts both at the high enterprise level and low, detailed level for a particular context. This paper has both theoretical and practical implications for researchers and practitioners pursuing to integrate various modelling standards.
Gill, AQ, Alam, SL & Eustace, J 2015, 'Social Architecture: An Emergency Management Case Study.', Australas. J. Inf. Syst., vol. 19, pp. 23-40.
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© 2015 Gill, Alam & Eustace. Emergency management agencies are progressively using social media for the sourcing and distribution of disaster information. Emergency management agencies are often unsure as to how to best identify and assess social media concerns (e.g. information security, trust) which must be addressed to develop a social media-enabled disaster information management environment. This paper adopts the Social Architecture Viewpoint Assessment (SAVA) framework for identifying and assessing social media concerns from four different viewpoints: IT, Value, Resource and Management. This paper demonstrates the use of the SAVA framework in the context of an in-depth empirical case study of an Australian emergency management agency. The results of this study indicate that the SAVA framework is useful for emergency information management managers in identifying and assessing social media concerns.
Gill, AQ, Bunker, D & Seltsikas, P 2015, 'Moving Forward: Emerging Themes in Financial Services Technologies' Adoption', COMMUNICATIONS OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR INFORMATION SYSTEMS, vol. 36, pp. 205-230.
Gilmore, R 2015, 'The world’s fastest wireless backhaul radio', Australian Journal of Telecommunications and the Digital Economy, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1-1.
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Fibre is commonly perceived to be the dominant transport mechanism for transferring data from access points back to a central office, where it is aggregated onto the core network. However, high speed and long range wireless backhaul remains a cost-effective alternative to fibre networks. In some areas, wireless backhaul is dominant and becoming more and more attractive. However, commercially available wireless backhaul systems do not meet the requirements for both high speed and long range at the same time with sufficiently low latency for some applications. Traditional microwave systems can achieve long transmission range, but the data rates are then limited to a few hundred megabits per second. Multi-gigabit per second wireless communications can be achieved using millimetre-wave (mm-wave) frequency bands, especially in E-band, but the practical transmission range has then always been a major weakness.In this article, the world’s first 5Gbps radio solution – and the fastest commercial backhaul product – developed by EM Solutions Pty Ltd with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) – is described. As well as achieving a state-of-the-art data rate, other key design features include maximal path length, minimal latency, and constant antenna pointing under wind and tower vibration.
Ginger, J, Henderson, D, Humphreys, M, Konthesingha, C & Stewart, MG 2015, 'Wind Loads on the Frames of Industrial Buildings', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 169-178.
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Ginger, J, Henderson, D, Humphreys, M, Konthesinghe, C & Stewart, MG 2015, 'Wind loads on the frames of industrial buildings', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 169-177.
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The structural response of typical, gable-end, low roof pitch industrial buildings, in a windstorm is dependent on the wind loads used in the design of cladding and the portal frame structure. Critical, structural wind load effects derived from wind loads measured on a wind tunnel model show that standards such as AS/NZS 1170.2 can produce unconservative design load effects on the heavily loaded fi rst internal frame. This paper forms part of wider study that assesses the vulnerability of hot rolled steel, industrial buildings to wind loads. The knee and ridge bending moments and horizontal and vertical reactions at the base of the frame are the critical load effects that are used in the design of structural members and connections of these types of buildings. This study found that some of these load effects based on external pressures are under-estimated by about 30%, when the building is located in a suburban environment. A dominant windward wall opening can effectively double the design load effects, thus signifi cantly increasing the vulnerability, especially if this scenario has not been considered by the designer.
Gmel, GE, Hamilton, TJ, Obradovic, M, Gorman, RB, Single, PS, Chenery, HJ, Coyne, T, Silburn, PA & Parker, JL 2015, 'A new biomarker for subthalamic deep brain stimulation for patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease—a pilot study', Journal of Neural Engineering, vol. 12, no. 6, pp. 066013-066013.
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© 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd. Objective. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has become the standard treatment for advanced stages of Parkinson's disease (PD) and other motor disorders. Although the surgical procedure has improved in accuracy over the years thanks to imaging and microelectrode recordings, the underlying principles that render DBS effective are still debated today. The aim of this paper is to present initial findings around a new biomarker that is capable of assessing the efficacy of DBS treatment for PD which could be used both as a research tool, as well as in the context of a closed-loop stimulator. Approach. We have used a novel multi-channel stimulator and recording device capable of measuring the response of nervous tissue to stimulation very close to the stimulus site with minimal latency, rejecting most of the stimulus artefact usually found with commercial devices. We have recorded and analyzed the responses obtained intraoperatively in two patients undergoing DBS surgery in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) for advanced PD. Main results. We have identified a biomarker in the responses of the STN to DBS. The responses can be analyzed in two parts, an initial evoked compound action potential arising directly after the stimulus onset, and late responses (LRs), taking the form of positive peaks, that follow the initial response. We have observed a morphological change in the LRs coinciding with a decrease in the rigidity of the patients. Significance. These initial results could lead to a better characterization of the DBS therapy, and the design of adaptive DBS algorithms that could significantly improve existing therapies and help us gain insights into the functioning of the basal ganglia and DBS.
Golembiewski, B, Sick, N & Broering, S 2015, 'Potential convergence processes within the emerging bioeconomyPotential convergence processes within the emerging bioeconomy – agriculture and energy industry in the focus', International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 1550012-1-1550012-22.
Golembiewski, B, Sick, N & Bröring, S 2015, 'Patterns of Convergence Within the Emerging Bioeconomy — The Case of the Agricultural and Energy Sector', International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management, vol. 12, no. 03, pp. 1550012-1550012.
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In light of an emerging bioeconomy, fading boundaries between the so far distinct agricultural and energy sector indicate a convergence process leading to a new competitive setting between established value chains requiring dynamic capabilities of the affected firms. On the basis of understanding convergence as a process within research-intensive industries, patent analyses can be applied to identify whether there are trends of convergence associated with the emerging bioeconomy. This study focuses on examining the nexus of agricultural and energy sector with regard to German biogas technologies. Although different disciplinary activities within the field of biogas can be confirmed, for now, biogas (as well as other bioenergy) applications rather seem to build a sub-segment within the energy value chain than to form a new inter-industry segment.
Golembiewski, B, vom Stein, N, Sick, N & Wiemhöfer, H-D 2015, 'Identifying trends in battery technologies with regard to electric mobility: evidence from patenting activities along and across the battery value chain', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 87, no. C, pp. 800-810.
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© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Electric mobility is a topic of intense discussions in academia and industry since the stability of future energy supply as well as the associated environmental consequences are uncertain. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the research and development status of battery technologies for electric vehicles which are reflecting the interface of the automotive, chemical and electronics sector. The present study applies patent families as technological indicators in order to analyze the research activities of each step of the designed battery value chain individually and in comparison with each other to identify and discuss trends regarding the technologies associated to electric vehicles. By applying this explorative approach to the comparably new field, the study contributes to both the scientific literature on patent analysis as well as on emerging industry and value creation structures related to the electric mobility sector. Although the distribution of patents shows an emphasis on active components, the high number of patents covering more than one value chain step points towards the tendency of considering the whole value chain in systemic research approaches. Furthermore, a detailed analysis of patent assignees reveals insights on the knowledge dissemination across the value chain whereby the major share of industry actors still appears to be focused on their respective core competences but also administers important links to other value chain steps. The increase of collaborative activities across steps further hints towards starting shifts in value creation activities.
Golsorkhi, MS & Lu, DDC 2015, 'A Control Method for Inverter-Based Islanded Microgrids Based on V-I Droop Characteristics', IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery, vol. 30, no. 3, pp. 1196-1204.
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© 1986-2012 IEEE. Microgrids' performance and stability mostly depend on power-flow control strategy. In order to allow for coordinated control while maintaining reliable operation, decentralized control methods based on P and Q droop characteristics have been utilized. Inherently, the power droop control methods have slow dynamics. In this paper, a novel control method based on V-I characteristics is introduced to exploit the flexibility and fast dynamics of the inverter-based distributed energy resources. In the proposed method, the direct and quadrature axis voltage components are drooped with the corresponding currents according to a piecewise linear droop function. Eigenvalue analysis of a sample microgrid shows that the proposed method features faster dynamics and improved damping compared to the conventional droop scheme. Simulation results are presented to verify the efficacy of the proposed method.
Goodswen, SJ, Barratt, JLN, Kennedy, PJ & Ellis, JT 2015, 'Improving the gene structure annotation of the apicomplexan parasite Neospora caninum fulfils a vital requirement towards an in silico-derived vaccine', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR PARASITOLOGY, vol. 45, no. 5, pp. 305-318.
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© 2015 Australian Society for Parasitology Inc. Neospora caninum is an apicomplexan parasite which can cause abortion in cattle, instigating major economic burden. Vaccination has been proposed as the most cost-effective control measure to alleviate this burden. Consequently the overriding aspiration for N. caninum research is the identification and subsequent evaluation of vaccine candidates in animal models. To save time, cost and effort, it is now feasible to use an in silico approach for vaccine candidate prediction. Precise protein sequences, derived from the correct open reading frame, are paramount and arguably the most important factor determining the success or failure of this approach. The challenge is that publicly available N. caninum sequences are mostly derived from gene predictions. Annotated inaccuracies can lead to erroneously predicted vaccine candidates by bioinformatics programs. This study evaluates the current N. caninum annotation for potential inaccuracies. Comparisons with annotation from a closely related pathogen, Toxoplasma gondii, are also made to distinguish patterns of inconsistency. More importantly, a mRNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) experiment is used to validate the annotation. Potential discrepancies originating from a questionable start codon context and exon boundaries were identified in 1943 protein coding sequences. We conclude, where experimental data were available, that the majority of N. caninum gene sequences were reliably predicted. Nevertheless, almost 28% of genes were identified as questionable. Given the limitations of RNA-Seq, the intention of this study was not to replace the existing annotation but to support or oppose particular aspects of it. Ideally, many studies aimed at improving the annotation are required to build a consensus. We believe this study, in providing a new resource on gene structure and annotation, is a worthy contributor to this endeavour.
Granade, C, Ferrie, C & Cory, DG 2015, 'Accelerated randomized benchmarking', New Journal of Physics, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 013042-013042.
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© 2015 IOP Publishing Ltd and Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. Quantum information processing offers promising advances for a wide range of fields and applications, provided that we can efficiently assess the performance of the control applied in candidate systems. That is, we must be able to determine whether we have implemented a desired gate, and refine accordingly. Randomized benchmarking reduces the difficulty of this task by exploiting symmetries in quantum operations. Here, we bound the resources required for benchmarking and show that, with prior information, we can achieve several orders of magnitude better accuracy than in traditional approaches to benchmarking. Moreover, by building on state-of-the-art classical algorithms, we reach these accuracies with near-optimal resources. Our approach requires an order of magnitude less data to achieve the same accuracies and to provide online estimates of the errors in the reported fidelities. We also show that our approach is useful for physical devices by comparing to simulations.
Grant, M & Stewart, MG 2015, 'Probabilistic Risk Assessment for Improvised Explosive Device Attacks That Cause Significant Building Damage', Journal of Performance of Constructed Facilities, vol. 29, no. 5.
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Most vulnerability assessments assume that an improvised explosive device (IED) will reach maximum TNT equivalency, and that the IED will successfully detonate. These assumptions will tend to overestimate actual blast-load effects. The paper develops an IED probabilistic risk-assessment model using a systems model for IED attacks based on the reliability of IEDs and by characterizing the human aspects of an IED attack's operational effectiveness from existing databases of terrorist incidents. The analysis includes estimates of the probability of threat, hazard, and loss for large commercial buildings in the United States. It was found that annual fatality risk for building occupants is similar to acceptable risk criteria. This suggests that strengthening buildings against progressive collapse may not be warranted unless there is a specific threat against a building.
Gross, JA, Dangniam, N, Ferrie, C & Caves, CM 2015, 'Novelty, efficacy, and significance of weak measurements for quantum tomography', Physical Review A, vol. 92, no. 6.
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Guan, D-F, Ding, C, Qian, Z-P, Zhang, Y-S, Cao, W-Q & Dutkiewicz, E 2015, 'An SIW-Based Large-Scale Corporate-Feed Array Antenna', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 63, no. 7, pp. 2969-2976.
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© 2015 IEEE. A 16 × 16 substrate-integrated waveguide (SIW) cavity-backed array antenna is proposed in this paper. The array consists of two layers. The top layer employs novel SIW-based subarrays with a compact size. The bottom layer is an 8 × 8 SIW corporate-feed network to feed the subarrays. The Chebyshev amplitude weighting is employed in the feed network, which substantially reduces the side lobe level (SLL). The array antenna is fabricated using low-cost printed circuit board technology. The experimental results show that the proposed array antenna has a large bandwidth of 15% from 18.5 to 21.5 GHz with a peak gain of 29.1 dBi at 20.5 GHz. Across the entire band, high radiation efficiency above 62% and a low SLL below -17 dB are realized. The design principle can be used as a guidance for large-scale planar array antenna design and the proposed antenna can be used as a receiving antenna located on the ground in satellite communication systems.
Gulzar, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Varman, M & Rizwanul Fattah, IM 2015, 'Oil filter modification for biodiesel–fueled engine: A pathway to lubricant sustainability and exhaust emissions reduction', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 91, pp. 168-175.
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Gulzar, M, Masjuki, HH, Varman, M, Kalam, MA, Mufti, RA, Zulkifli, NWM, Yunus, R & Zahid, R 2015, 'Improving the AW/EP ability of chemically modified palm oil by adding CuO and MoS2 nanoparticles', Tribology International, vol. 88, pp. 271-279.
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Guo, C, Allen, FI, Lee, Y, Le, TP, Song, C, Ciston, J, Minor, AM & Gomez, ED 2015, 'Probing Local Electronic Transitions in Organic Semiconductors through Energy‐Loss Spectrum Imaging in the Transmission Electron Microscope', Advanced Functional Materials, vol. 25, no. 38, pp. 6071-6076.
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Improving the performance of organic electronic devices depends on exploiting the complex nanostructures formed in the active layer. Current imaging methods based on transmission electron microscopy provide limited chemical sensitivity, and thus the application to materials with compositionally similar phases or complicated multicomponent systems is challenging. Here, it is demonstrated that monochromated transmission electron microscopes can generate contrast in organic thin films based on differences in the valence electronic structure at energy losses below 10 eV. In this energy range, electronic fingerprints corresponding to interband excitations in organic semiconductors can be utilized to generate significant spectral contrast between phases. Based on differences in chemical bonding of organic materials, high‐contrast images are thus obtained revealing the phase separation in polymer/fullerene mixtures. By applying principal component analysis to the spectroscopic image series, further details about phase compositions and local electronic transitions in the active layer of organic semiconductor mixtures can be explored.
Guo, D, Ding, J, Tang, J, Xu, M & Zhao, C 2015, 'NIF-based seam carving for image resizing', Multimedia Systems, vol. 21, no. 6, pp. 603-613.
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Guo, J, Peng, Y, Ni, B-J, Han, X, Fan, L & Yuan, Z 2015, 'Dissecting microbial community structure and methane-producing pathways of a full-scale anaerobic reactor digesting activated sludge from wastewater treatment by metagenomic sequencing', Microbial Cell Factories, vol. 14, no. 1, p. 33.
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BACKGROUND: Anaerobic digestion has been widely applied to treat the waste activated sludge from biological wastewater treatment and produce methane for biofuel, which has been one of the most efficient solutions to both energy crisis and environmental pollution challenges. Anaerobic digestion sludge contains highly complex microbial communities, which play crucial roles in sludge treatment. However, traditional approaches based on 16S rRNA amplification or fluorescent in situ hybridization cannot completely reveal the whole microbial community structure due to the extremely high complexity of the involved communities. In this sense, the next-generation high-throughput sequencing provides a powerful tool for dissecting microbial community structure and methane-producing pathways in anaerobic digestion. RESULTS: In this work, the metagenomic sequencing was used to characterize microbial community structure of the anaerobic digestion sludge from a full-scale municipal wastewater treatment plant. Over 3.0 gigabases of metagenomic sequence data were generated with the Illumina HiSeq 2000 platform. Taxonomic analysis by MG-RAST server indicated that overall bacteria were dominant (~93%) whereas a considerable abundance of archaea (~6%) were also detected in the anaerobic digestion sludge. The most abundant bacterial populations were found to be Proteobacteria, Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, and Actinobacteria. Key microorganisms and related pathways involved in methanogenesis were further revealed. The dominant proliferation of Methanosaeta and Methanosarcina, together with the functional affiliation of enzymes-encoding genes (acetate kinase (AckA), phosphate acetyltransferase (PTA), and acetyl-CoA synthetase (ACSS)), suggested that the acetoclastic methanogenesis is the dominant methanogenesis pathway in the full-scale anaerobic digester. CONCLUSIONS: In short, the metagenomic sequencing study of this work successfully dissected the detail microbial community s...
Guo, J, Yang, T, Yuan, J & Zhang, JA 2015, 'Linear Vector Physical-Layer Network Coding for MIMO Two-Way Relay Channels: Design and Performance Analysis', IEEE Transactions on Communications, vol. 63, no. 7, pp. 2591-2604.
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© 1972-2012 IEEE. In this paper, we propose a new linear vector physical-layer network coding (NC) scheme for spatial multiplexing multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) two-way relay channel (TWRC) where the channel state information (CSI) is not available at the transmitters. In this scheme, each user transmits $M$ independent quadrature amplitude modulation signal streams respectively from its $M$ antennas to the relay. Based on the receiver-side CSI, the relay determines a NC generator matrix for linear vector network coding, and reconstructs the associated $M$ linear combinations of all messages. We present an explicit solution for the generator matrix that minimizes the error probability at a high SNR, as well as an efficient algorithm to find the optimized solution. We propose a novel typical error event analysis that exploits a new characterization of the deep fade events for the TWRC. We derive a new closed-form expression for the average error probability of the proposed scheme over a Rayleigh fading MIMO TWRC. Our analysis shows that the proposed scheme achieves the optimal error rate performance at a high SNR. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme significantly outperforms existing schemes, and match well with our analytical results.
Guo, S, Qu, F, Ding, A, Bai, L, Li, G, Ngo, HH, Guo, W & Liang, H 2015, 'Effects of poly aluminum chloride dosing positions on the performance of a pilot scale anoxic/oxic-membrane bioreactor (A/O-MBR)', Water Science and Technology, vol. 72, no. 5, pp. 689-695.
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The effects of poly aluminum chloride (PACl) dosing positions on the performance of a pilot scale anoxic/oxic membrane bioreactor were investigated. PACl dosage was optimized at 19.5 mg Al2O3/L by jar test. Nutrients removal efficiencies and sludge properties were systematically investigated during periods with no PACl dosing (phase I), with PACl dosing in oxic tank (phase II) and then in anoxic tank (phase III). The results showed that total phosphorus removal efficiency increased from 18 to 88% in phase II and 85% in phase III with less than 0.5 mg P/L in effluent. Ammonia nitrogen removal efficiencies reached 99% in all phases and chemical oxygen demand removal efficiencies reached 92%, 91% and 90% in the three phases, respectively. Total nitrogen removal efficiency decreased from 59% in phase I to 49% in phases II and III. Dosing PACl in the oxic tank resulted in smaller sludge particle size, higher zeta potential, better sludge settleability and lower membrane fouling rate in comparison with dosing PACl in the anoxic tank.
Guo, Y, Naik, GR, Huang, S, Abraham, A & Nguyen, HT 2015, 'Nonlinear multiscale Maximal Lyapunov Exponent for accurate myoelectric signal classification', Applied Soft Computing, vol. 36, pp. 633-640.
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Gupta, B, Notarianni, M, Mishra, N, Shafiei, M, Iacopi, F & Motta, N 2015, 'Corrigendum to “Evolution of epitaxial graphene layers on 3C SiC/Si (1 1 1) as a function of annealing temperature in UHV” [Carbon 68 (2014) 563–572]', Carbon, vol. 84, pp. 280-280.
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Gupta, B, Placidi, E, Hogan, C, Mishra, N, Iacopi, F & Motta, N 2015, 'The transition from 3C SiC(111) to graphene captured by Ultra High Vacuum Scanning Tunneling Microscopy', Carbon, vol. 91, pp. 378-385.
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Gupta, B, Stanton, N, Coleman, H, White, C & Singh, J 2015, 'A novel approach to the management of a central giant cell granuloma with denosumab: A case report and review of current treatments', Journal of Cranio-Maxillofacial Surgery, vol. 43, no. 7, pp. 1127-1132.
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Ha, DT, Dang, TQ, Tran, NV, Vo, NY, Nguyen, ND & Nguyen, TV 2015, 'Prognostic performance of the Rapid Emergency Medicine Score (REMS) and Worthing Physiological Scoring system (WPS) in emergency department', International Journal of Emergency Medicine, vol. 8, no. 1.
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Ha, QP & Vakiloroaya, V 2015, 'Modeling and optimal control of an energy-efficient hybrid solar air conditioning system', AUTOMATION IN CONSTRUCTION, vol. 49, no. Part B, pp. 262-270.
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© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. The paper addresses the modeling and optimal control problem of a new hybrid solar-assisted air conditioning system developed for performance enhancement and energy efficiency improvement. To regulate the mass flow rate of the refrigerant vapor passing through a water storage tank for increasing the refrigerant's sub-cooling process at partial loads, we propose a new discharge bypass line together with an inline solenoid valve, installed after the compressor. In addition, to control the air flow rate, a variable speed drive is coupled with the condenser fan. For the control purpose, a lumped parameter model is first developed to describe the system dynamics in an explicit input-output relationship; then, a linear optimal control scheme is applied for the system's multivariable control. The system has been fully-instrumented to examine its performance under different operation conditions. The system model is then validated by extensive experimental tests. Based on the obtained dynamic model, an optimal controller is designed to minimize a quadratic cost function. Numerical algorithms, implemented in a simulation tool, are then employed to predict the energy performance of the system under transient loads. The experimental results obtained from implementation with PLC demonstrate that the newly-developed system can deliver higher system efficiency owing to amelioration of the refrigeration effect in the direct expansion evaporator and adjustment of its air flow rate. The development is thus promising for improvement of energy efficiency, enhancement of the system performance while fulfilling the cooling demand.
Haah, J, Harrow, AW, Ji, Z, Wu, X & Yu, N 2015, 'Sample-optimal tomography of quantum states', IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 63, no. 9, pp. 5628-5641.
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It is a fundamental problem to decide how many copies of an unknown mixedquantum state are necessary and sufficient to determine the state. Previously,it was known only that estimating states to error $\epsilon$ in trace distancerequired $O(dr^2/\epsilon^2)$ copies for a $d$-dimensional density matrix ofrank $r$. Here, we give a theoretical measurement scheme (POVM) that requires$O (dr/ \delta ) \ln (d/\delta) $ copies of $\rho$ to error $\delta$ ininfidelity, and a matching lower bound up to logarithmic factors. This implies$O( (dr / \epsilon^2) \ln (d/\epsilon) )$ copies suffice to achieve error$\epsilon$ in trace distance. We also prove that for independent (product)measurements, $\Omega(dr^2/\delta^2) / \ln(1/\delta)$ copies are necessary inorder to achieve error $\delta$ in infidelity. For fixed $d$, our measurementcan be implemented on a quantum computer in time polynomial in $n$.
Habibullah, M & Lu, DD-C 2015, 'A Speed-Sensorless FS-PTC of Induction Motors Using Extended Kalman Filters', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 62, no. 11, pp. 6765-6778.
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© 2015 IEEE. A sensorless finite-state predictive torque control (FS-PTC) strategy uses stator current, estimated stator and rotor flux, and estimated rotor speed to predict stator flux and torque. Direct application of measured stator currents and using a noisy estimated speed in the prediction model degrade the steady-state performance in terms of higher current total harmonic distortion (THD), torque ripple, and flux ripple, particularly at low speeds. This paper proposes an extended Kalman filter (EKF)-based, which is a promising state observer, improved prediction model of sensorless FS-PTC for induction motor drives. The EKF has been used to estimate rotor speed, rotor/stator flux, and stator currents accurately. The estimated stator currents, instead of measured currents, are fed back to the prediction model, and thus, small stator current THD is confirmed. Depending on the commanded speed, either the rotor current model or the open-loop stator voltage model is proposed for the EKF to achieve better performance in a wide speed range, including the field-weakening region. The proposed control system has been verified experimentally, and excellent torque and flux responses, robustness, and stable operation at lower and higher speeds have been achieved.
Habibullah, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Gulzar, M, Arslan, A & Zahid, R 2015, 'Tribological Characteristics ofCalophyllum inophyllum–Based TMP (Trimethylolpropane) Ester as Energy-Saving and Biodegradable Lubricant', Tribology Transactions, vol. 58, no. 6, pp. 1002-1011.
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Habibullah, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Rahman, SMA, Mofijur, M, Mobarak, HM & Ashraful, AM 2015, 'Potential of biodiesel as a renewable energy source in Bangladesh', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 50, pp. 819-834.
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Habibullah, M, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Zulkifli, NWM, Masum, BM, Arslan, A & Gulzar, M 2015, 'Friction and wear characteristics of Calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel', Industrial Crops and Products, vol. 76, pp. 188-197.
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Habibullah, M, Rizwanul Fattah, IM, Masjuki, HH & Kalam, MA 2015, 'Effects of Palm–Coconut Biodiesel Blends on the Performance and Emission of a Single-Cylinder Diesel Engine', Energy & Fuels, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 734-743.
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This study aims to investigate the effects of palm or coconut biodiesel blend and their combination on the performance and emissions of a single-cylinder diesel engine. A 20% v/v blend of palm biodiesel (PB20) or coconut biodiesel (CB20) and varying percentage mixtures of these two feedstocks (PB15CB5, PB10CB10, and PB5CB15) were used in the experiments. Biodiesel was produced using one-step transesterification. Physicochemical analysis showed that both palm and coconut biodiesel met the specifications of ASTM D6751. A 10 kW, horizontal, one-cylinder, four-stroke direct injection diesel engine was used to carry out tests under full load conditions at varying speeds from 1400 to 2400 rpm with an interval of 200 rpm. Burning of CB20 reduced break power by 1.72% and increased brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and NOx emission by 4.07% and 4.49%, respectively. Conversely, burning of PB20 negligibly reduced brake power and increased NOx emission by only 1.79%. Meanwhile, combined palm-coconut biodiesel at a constant final blend reduced NOx emission by 0.54% to 1.85% and slightly improved brake power and BSFC. Thus, the advantages of the high cetane number of coconut and the high ignition quality of palm biodiesel were aggregated in the combined blends.
Hajihassani, M, Jahed Armaghani, D, Marto, A & Tonnizam Mohamad, E 2015, 'Ground vibration prediction in quarry blasting through an artificial neural network optimized by imperialist competitive algorithm', Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, vol. 74, no. 3, pp. 873-886.
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Hajihassani, M, Jahed Armaghani, D, Monjezi, M, Mohamad, ET & Marto, A 2015, 'Blast-induced air and ground vibration prediction: a particle swarm optimization-based artificial neural network approach', Environmental Earth Sciences, vol. 74, no. 4, pp. 2799-2817.
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Hamdan, M, Sharif, AO, Derwish, G, Al-Aibi, S & Altaee, A 2015, 'Draw solutions for Forward Osmosis process: Osmotic pressure of binary and ternary aqueous solutions of magnesium chloride, sodium chloride, sucrose and maltose', Journal of Food Engineering, vol. 155, pp. 10-15.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. The objective of the present work is to investigate the behaviour of binary and ternary aqueous systems, which could be employed in the selection criteria for draw agents (DA) to be used in Forward Osmosis (FO) process applications. In this study the osmotic properties of the selected binary and ternary aqueous solutions of magnesium chloride (MgCl2), sodium chloride (NaCl), sucrose and maltose are investigated. Osmotic pressures were calculated from water activities obtained from measured relative humidity of the solutions of concentrations in the range 0.5-6.0 mol kg-1 at 298.15 K. The osmotic behaviours of the ternary systems were compared with their binary counter parts; the results showed either positive or negative osmotic synergic effects. This could be used besides transport properties for considering the selection of favourable draw agents from those that exhibited positive synergy, i.e. the osmotic pressure of a ternary solution is greater than the sum of the pressures of the corresponding binary solutions. The results showed that the ternary aqueous solutions of MgCl2 + NaCl showed significant positive synergy and therefore are possible suitable candidates as draw solutions, less so were the sugar-electrolyte systems.
Han, J, Lu, J, Hu, Y & Zhang, G 2015, 'Tri-level decision-making with multiple followers: Model, algorithm and case study', INFORMATION SCIENCES, vol. 311, pp. 182-204.
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© 2015 Elsevier Inc. Tri-level decision-making arises to address compromises among interacting decision entities distributed throughout a three-level hierarchy; these entities are respectively termed the top-level leader, the middle-level follower and the bottom-level follower. This study considers an uncooperative situation where multiple followers at the same (middle or bottom) level make their individual decisions independently but consider the decision results of their counterparts as references through information exchanged among themselves. This situation is called a reference-based uncooperative multi-follower tri-level (MFTL) decision problem which appears in many real-world applications. To solve this problem, we need to find an optimal solution achieving both the Stackelberg equilibrium in the three-level vertical structure and the Nash equilibrium among multiple followers at the same horizontal level. In this paper, we first propose a general linear MFTL decision model for this situation. We then develop a MFTL Kth-Best algorithm to find an optimal solution to the model. Since the optimal solution means a compromised result in the uncooperative situation and it is often imprecise or ambiguous for decision entities to identify their related satisfaction, we use a fuzzy programming approach to characterize and evaluate the solution obtained. Lastly, a real-world case study on production-inventory planning illustrates the effectiveness of the proposed MFTL decision techniques.
Han, Y, Cao, Q & Ji, J 2015, 'Nonlinear Dynamics of a Smooth and Discontinuous Oscillator with Multiple Stability', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF BIFURCATION AND CHAOS, vol. 25, no. 13.
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Handojoseno, AMA, Shine, JM, Nguyen, TN, Tran, Y, Lewis, SJG & Nguyen, HT 2015, 'Analysis and Prediction of the Freezing of Gait Using EEG Brain Dynamics', IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering, vol. 23, no. 5, pp. 887-896.
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© 2014 IEEE. Freezing of Gait (FOG) is a common symptom in the advanced stages of Parkinson's disease (PD), which significantly affects patients' quality of life. Treatment options offer limited benefit and there are currently no mechanisms able to effectively detect FOG before it occurs, allowing time for a sufferer to avert a freezing episode. Electroencephalography (EEG) offers a novel technique that may be able to address this problem. In this paper, we investigated the univariate and multivariate EEG features determined by both Fourier and wavelet analysis in the confirmation and prediction of FOG. The EEG power measures and network properties from 16 patients with PD and FOG were extracted and analyzed. It was found that both power spectral density and wavelet energy could potentially act as biomarkers during FOG. Information in the frequency domain of the EEG was found to provide better discrimination of EEG signals during transition to freezing than information coded in the time domain. The performance of the FOG prediction systems improved when the information from both domains was used. This combination resulted in a sensitivity of 86.0%, specificity of 74.4%, and accuracy of 80.2% when predicting episodes of freezing, outperforming current accelerometry- based tools for the prediction of FOG.
Hao, L, Jiang, Z, Cheng, X, Zhao, J, Wei, D, Jiang, L, Luo, S, Luo, M & Ma, L 2015, 'Effect of Extreme Pressure Additives on the Deformation Behavior of Oxide Scale during the Hot Rolling of Ferritic Stainless Steel Strips', Tribology Transactions, vol. 58, no. 5, pp. 947-954.
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Hao, L, Jiang, Z, Wei, D, Zhao, Y, Zhao, J, Luo, M, Ma, L, Luo, S & Jiang, L 2015, 'Effect of extreme pressure agents on the anti-scratch behaviour of high-speed steel material', Tribology International, vol. 81, pp. 19-28.
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Harte, AM & Crews, K 2015, 'Special issue: Reinforcement of timber structures', Construction and Building Materials, vol. 97, pp. 1-1.
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Hasan, MA, Xu, M, He, X & Wang, Y 2015, 'A camera motion histogram descriptor for video shot classification', Multimedia Tools and Applications, vol. 74, no. 24, pp. 11073-11098.
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© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media New York. In this paper, a novel camera motion descriptor is proposed for video shot classification. In the proposed method, raw motion information of consecutive video frames are extracted by computing the motion vector of each macroblock to form motion vector fields (MVFs). Next, a motion consistency analysis is applied on MVFs to eliminate the inconsistent motion vectors. Then, MVFs are divided into nine (3 × 3) local regions and the singular value decomposition (SVD) technique is applied on the motion vectors extracted from each local region in the temporal direction. Consistent motion vectors of a number of MVFs are compactly represented at a time to characterize temporal camera motion. Accordingly, each local region of the whole video shot is represented using a sequence of compactly represented vectors. Finally, the sequence of vectors is converted into a histogram to describe the camera motions of each local region. Combination of all the local histograms is considered as the camera motion descriptor of a video shot. The shot descriptors are used in a classifier to classify video shots. In this work, we use support vector machine (SVM) for performing classification tasks. The experimental results show that the proposed camera motion descriptor has strong discriminative capability to classify different camera motion patterns in professionally captured video shots effectively. We also show that our proposed approach outperforms two state-of-the-art video shot classification methods.
Hasan, MM, Zhou, Y, Lu, X, Li, J, Song, J & Zhang, Z 2015, 'Computational Identification of Protein Pupylation Sites by Using Profile-Based Composition of k-Spaced Amino Acid Pairs', PLOS ONE, vol. 10, no. 6, pp. e0129635-e0129635.
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© 2015 Hasan et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Prokaryotic proteins are regulated by pupylation, a type of post-translational modification that contributes to cellular function in bacterial organisms. In pupylation process, the prokaryotic ubiquitin-like protein (Pup) tagging is functionally analogous to ubiquitination in order to tag target proteins for proteasomal degradation. To date, several experimental methods have been developed to identify pupylated proteins and their pupylation sites, but these experimental methods are generally laborious and costly. Therefore, computational methods that can accurately predict potential pupylation sites based on protein sequence information are highly desirable. In this paper, a novel predictor termed as pbPUP has been developed for accurate prediction of pupylation sites. In particular, a sophisticated sequence encoding scheme [i.e. the profile-based composition of k-spaced amino acid pairs (pbCKSAAP)] is used to represent the sequence patterns and evolutionary information of the sequence fragments surrounding pupylation sites. Then, a Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier is trained using the pbCKSAAP encoding scheme. The final pbPUP predictor achieves an AUC value of 0.849 in10-fold cross-validation tests and outperforms other existing predictors on a comprehensive independent test dataset. The proposed method is anticipated to be a helpful computational resource for the prediction of pupylation sites. The web server and curated datasets in this study are freely available at http://protein.cau.edu.cn/pbPUP/.
Hasanipanah, M, Monjezi, M, Shahnazar, A, Jahed Armaghani, D & Farazmand, A 2015, 'Feasibility of indirect determination of blast induced ground vibration based on support vector machine', Measurement, vol. 75, pp. 289-297.
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Hashmi, RM & Esselle, KP 2015, 'A wideband EBG resonator antenna with an extremely small footprint area', Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, vol. 57, no. 7, pp. 1531-1535.
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ABSTRACTAn electromagnetic band gap resonator antenna (ERA) with an extremely small footprint is presented. The proposed ERA has a peak measured gain of 15.6 dBi and an excellent measured 3dB gain‐bandwidth of 27%. The four‐layer composite superstructure used in this ERA takes the shape of a circular disc with the ground plane radius equal to that of the superstructure. Its footprint area is only 1.7λ02 at the lowest operating frequency. The average measured aperture efficiency of this ERA is nearly 90%. The side lobe levels are well below −12 dB over most of the operating bandwidth and the cross polarization levels are below −17 dB. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 57:1531–1535, 2015
Hashmi, RM & Esselle, KP 2015, 'Erratum for: A wideband EBG resonator antenna with an extremely small footprint area', Microwave and Optical Technology Letters, vol. 57, no. 9, pp. 2228-2228.
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Hasselmann, K, Cremades, R, Filatova, T, Hewitt, R, Jaeger, C, Kovalevsky, D, Voinov, A & Winder, N 2015, 'Free-riders to forerunners', Nature Geoscience, vol. 8, no. 12, pp. 895-898.
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Hayes, G, Khazaei, H, El-Khatib, K, McGregor, C & Eklund, JM 2015, 'Design and analytical model of a platform-as-a-service cloud for healthcare', Journal of Internet Technology, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 139-149.
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Recent progression in health informatics data analysis has been impeded due to lack of hospital resources and computation power. To remedy this, some researchers have proposed a cloud-based web service patient monitoring system capable of providing offsite collection, analysis, and dissemination of remote patient physiological data. Unfortunately, some of these cloud services are not effective without utilizing next-generation hardware management techniques. In order to make cloud based patient monitoring a reality, this paper shows how leveraging an underlying platform-as-a-service (PaaS) cloud model can provide integration with web service patient monitoring systems while providing high availability, scalability, and security. We also present an analytical model of the proposed platform and obtain performance measures such as delay in servicing as well as reject probability.
He, C, Wang, TQ & Armstrong, J 2015, 'Performance of Optical Receivers Using Photodetectors With Different Fields of View in a MIMO ACO-OFDM System', Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 33, no. 23, pp. 4957-4967.
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He, X & Liang, D 2015, 'Study of the Runout of Granular Columns with SPH Methods', International Journal of Offshore and Polar Engineering, vol. 25, no. 4, pp. 281-287.
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Heidari, R, Afroz, F, Subramanian, R, Cong, S, Sandrasegaran, K & Kong, X 2015, 'Packet Scheduling Study For Heterogeneous Traffic In Downlink 3gpplte System', International Journal of Wireless & Mobile Networks, vol. 7, no. 5, pp. 91-106.
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Long Term Evolution (LTE) network deploys Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA)
technology for downlink multi-carrier transmission. To meet the Quality of Service (QoS) requirements for
LTE networks, packet scheduling has been employed. Packet scheduling determines when and how the
user’s packets are transmitted to the receiver. Therefore effective design of packet scheduling algorithm is
an important discussion. The aims of packet scheduling are maximizing system throughput, guaranteeing
fairness among users, andminimizing either or both PacketLoss Ratio (PLR)and packet delay. Inthis paper,
the performance of two packet scheduling algorithms namely Log Maximum-Largest Weighted Delay First
(LOG-MLWDF) and Max Delay Unit (MDU), developed for OFDM(Orthogonal Frequency Division
Multiplexing)networks, has been investigated in LTE downlink networks, and acomparison of those
algorithmswith a well-known scheduling algorithm namely Maximum-Largest Weighted Delay
First(MLWDF) has been studied.The performance evaluation was in terms of system throughput, PLR and
fairness index. This study was performed forboth real time (voice and video streaming)and non-real time
(best effort)perspectives. Results show that for streaming flows,LOG-MLWDF shows best PLR
performance among the considered scheduling schemes, and for best effort flows, it outperforms theother
two algorithms in terms of packet delay and throughput.
Heitor, A, Indraratna, B & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2015, 'Effect of suction history on the small strain response of a dynamically compacted soil', Australian Geomechanics Journal, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 61-68.
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Small strain behaviour is a key indicator in the assessment of the performance of compacted fills. Compaction conditions i.e. initial moisture content and applied energy, govern compaction effectiveness and thus the structure and matric suction of compacted soil. During the service life of earth structures, they experience changes in hydraulic behaviour owing to climatic changes. While the results of previous research studies indicate that the effect of changes in suction on the dynamic response is significant, only limited research has been engaged in the assessment of the effect of post-compacted changes in suction induced by periods of intensive precipitation (i.e. wetting) and drought (i.e. drying). The seasonal fluctuations of moisture reflected in the soil's suction history have an important impact on the geomechanical performance of compacted soil. In this paper, the aspects related to the effect of suction history of a compacted silty sand soil subjected to cycles of wetting and drying are described. The results not only confirm the importance of the recent suction ratio (or CSR) in governing the mechanical response at small strain but also suggest that subsequent wetting-drying cycles further induce hysteretic changes, particularly when following the wetting paths.
HEITOR, A, INDRARATNA, B & RUJIKIATKAMJORN, C 2015, 'The role of compaction energy on the small strain properties of a compacted silty sand subjected to drying–wetting cycles', Géotechnique, vol. 65, no. 9, pp. 717-727.
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The elastic properties of a soil are usually investigated to describe its engineering behaviour. The results of previous studies indicate that the effect of changes in suction on the elastic response at a small strain level of soils is significant during compaction and post-compaction periods. Limited efforts have been focused on quantifying those post-compacted responses due to the changes in suction induced by wetting and drying cycles. During their service life, most earth structures experience changes in hydraulic behaviour owing to climatic changes. These seasonal fluctuations in turn impact on the geomechanical performance of compacted soil. In this paper the aspects related to the elastic properties of compacted soils subjected to cycles of drying and wetting are described. Particular emphasis is placed on the effect of compaction energy on the hysteric behaviour (i.e. amplitude of the hysteresis loop) and its dependence on the initial stress state conditions and suction history. The results not only confirm the importance of the current suction in governing the shear and compression velocities and associated moduli, but they also suggest that subsequent drying–wetting cycles or suction history can further induce hysteretic changes, particularly along the wetting paths.
Henderson, IEJ, Zhu, XQ, Uy, B & Mirza, O 2015, 'Dynamic behaviour of steel–concrete composite beams with different types of shear connectors. Part I: Experimental study', Engineering Structures, vol. 103, pp. 298-307.
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In civil engineering, composite construction has become increasingly widespread due to the improvement of mechanical properties it provides. Recently, research on the development of post installed or retrofitted shear connectors has been conducted. The benefits of this are the ease of installation and the ease of removal for decommissioning structures at the end of their life. Most of the research in this area is concerned with modified versions of welded shear studs or various threaded rod and nut configurations and refers to only one type of shear connector. Therefore, the suitability of the proposed models across differing shear connection types is unknown. In the first of two companion papers an experimental study has been undertaken to ascertain the dynamic behaviour of identical steel-concrete composite beams with differing shear connection systems. Two blind bolt connector types were used as shear connection systems in steel-concrete composite beams. Alongside these, a welded shear stud specimen, and a non-composite specimen were tested for comparison.
Henderson, IEJ, Zhu, XQ, Uy, B & Mirza, O 2015, 'Dynamic behaviour of steel–concrete composite beams with different types of shear connectors. Part II: Modelling and comparison', Engineering Structures, vol. 103, pp. 308-317.
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In the first paper of these two companion papers an experimental study was undertaken to ascertain the dynamic behaviour of identical steel-concrete composite beams with differing shear connection systems. Two blind bolt connector types were used as shear connection systems in steel-concrete composite beams. Alongside these, a welded shear stud specimen, and a non-composite specimen were tested for comparison. In this, the second paper a Timoshenko beam model for steel-concrete composite beams is developed and is compared with the experimental results. An uncertain boundary condition is investigated using the Timoshenko beam model and an empirical relation between the displacements at the beam supports and the rotation of the cross section face is proposed.
Hesamian, MH, Mashohor, S, Saripan, MI & Wan Adnan, WA 2015, 'Effect of image resolution on intensity based scene illumination classification using neural network', The Imaging Science Journal, vol. 63, no. 8, pp. 433-439.
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In this paper, a framework for testing scene illumination classification with different image resolutions is proposed. The testing aims to provide the researchers with valuable information about the effect of image resolution on scene illumination classification using a neural network. The experiment is done by extracting three types of features from the images. These three types consist of statistical features, physic based features and histogram based features. It has been demonstrated that scene illumination classification can be affected by changing the image resolution. Despite the popular belief that high resolution images lead to better results, scene illumination classification by the proposed method performed best using low resolution images. At the second part of discussion, the reason behind this phenomenon is mathematically analysed and explained.
Ho, L & Fatahi, B 2015, 'Analytical solution for the two-dimensional plane strain consolidation of an unsaturated soil stratum subjected to time-dependent loading', COMPUTERS AND GEOTECHNICS, vol. 67, pp. 1-16.
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© 2015. This paper introduces an exact analytical solution predicting variations in excess pore-air and pore-water pressures and settlement considering the two-dimensional (2D) plane strain consolidation of an unsaturated soil stratum subjected to different time-dependent loadings. Based on the proposed solution, the distributions of excess pore pressures along vertical and horizontal directions can be determined. The general solution is first expressed in a series of eigenfunctions of homogeneous partial differential equations (PDEs) and is then substituted into the governing flow equations. Using term-by-term differentiation and the orthogonality of the sine function, the governing equations become ordinary differential equations (ODEs). Once the complex domain is obtained by applying the Laplace transformation technique, the closed-form analytical solutions describing the dissipation of excess pore-air and pore-water pressures can be obtained by taking a Laplace inverse. In this study, four external loadings, including ramping, asymptotic, sinusoid and damped sine wave, are simulated and incorporated into the proposed solutions. For the data analysis, the 2D consolidation behavior is investigated against variations in the permeability ratio (ka/kw). Additionally, parametric studies regarding loading functions are presented in this paper.
Ho, L, Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 2015, 'A closed form analytical solution for two-dimensional plane strain consolidation of unsaturated soil stratum', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR NUMERICAL AND ANALYTICAL METHODS IN GEOMECHANICS, vol. 39, no. 15, pp. 1665-1692.
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© 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This paper discusses the excess pore-air and pore-water pressure dissipations and the average degree of consolidation in the 2D plane strain consolidation of an unsaturated soil stratum using eigenfunction expansion and Laplace transformation techniques. In this study, the application of a constant external loading on a soil surface is assumed to immediately generate uniformly or linearly distributed initial excess pore pressures. The general solutions consisting of eigenfunctions and eigenvalues are first proposed. The Laplace transform is then applied to convert the time variable t in partial differential equations into the Laplace complex argument s. Once the domain is obtained, a simplified set of equations with variable s can be achieved. The final analytical solutions can be computed by taking a Laplace inverse. The proposed equations predict the two-dimensional consolidation behaviour of an unsaturated soil stratum capturing the uniformly and linearly distributed initial excess pore pressures. This study investigates the effects of isotropic and anisotropic permeability conditions on variations of excess pore pressures and the average degree of consolidation. Additionally, isochrones of excess pore pressures along vertical and horizontal directions are presented. It is found that the initial distribution of pore pressures, varying with depth, results in considerable effects on the pore-water pressure dissipation rate whilst it has insignificant effects on the excess pore-air pressure dissipation rate.
Hoang, DT, Lu, X, Niyato, D, Wang, P & Han, Z 2015, 'Applications of Repeated Games in Wireless Networks: A Survey', IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 2102-2135.
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A repeated game is an effective tool to model interactions and conflicts forplayers aiming to achieve their objectives in a long-term basis. Contrary tostatic noncooperative games that model an interaction among players in only oneperiod, in repeated games, interactions of players repeat for multiple periods;and thus the players become aware of other players' past behaviors and theirfuture benefits, and will adapt their behavior accordingly. In wirelessnetworks, conflicts among wireless nodes can lead to selfish behaviors,resulting in poor network performances and detrimental individual payoffs. Inthis paper, we survey the applications of repeated games in different wirelessnetworks. The main goal is to demonstrate the use of repeated games toencourage wireless nodes to cooperate, thereby improving network performancesand avoiding network disruption due to selfish behaviors. Furthermore, variousproblems in wireless networks and variations of repeated game models togetherwith the corresponding solutions are discussed in this survey. Finally, weoutline some open issues and future research directions.
Hoang, DT, Niyato, D, Wang, P & Kim, DI 2015, 'Performance Analysis of Wireless Energy Harvesting Cognitive Radio Networks Under Smart Jamming Attacks', IEEE Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 200-216.
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In cognitive radio networks with wireless energy harvesting, secondary users are able to harvest energy from a wireless power source and then use the harvested energy to transmit data opportunistically on an idle channel allocated to primary users. Such networks have become more common due to pervasiveness of wireless charging, improving the performance of the secondary users. However, in such networks, the secondary users can be vulnerable to jamming attacks by malicious users who can also harvest wireless energy to launch the attacks. In this paper, we first formulate the throughput optimization problem for a secondary user under the attacks by jammers as a Markov decision process (MDP). We then introduce a new solution based on the deception tactic to deal with smart jamming attacks. Furthermore, we propose a learning algorithm for the secondary user to find an optimal transmission policy and extend to the case with multiple secondary users in the same environment. Through the simulations, we demonstrate that the proposed learning algorithms can effectively reduce adverse effects from smart jammers even when they use different attack strategies.
Hoang, DT, Niyato, D, Wang, P & Kim, DI 2015, 'Performance Optimization for Cooperative Multiuser Cognitive Radio Networks with RF Energy Harvesting Capability', IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 14, no. 7, pp. 3614-3629.
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We study the performance optimization problem for a cognitive radio network with radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting capability for secondary users. In such networks, the secondary users are able to not only transmit packets on a channel licensed to a primary user when the channel is idle, but also harvest RF energy from the primary users' transmissions when the channel is busy. Specifically, we propose a system model where the secondary users are able to cooperate to maximize the overall network throughput through sensing a set of common channels. We first consider the case where the secondary users cooperate in a TDMA fashion and propose a novel solution based on a learning algorithm to find optimal channel access policies for the secondary users. Then, we examine the case where the secondary users cooperate in a decentralized manner and we formulate the cooperative decentralized optimization problem as a decentralized partially observable Markov decision process (DEC-POMDP). To solve the cooperative decentralized stochastic optimization problem, we apply a decentralized learning algorithm based on the policy gradient and the Lagrange multiplier method to obtain optimal channel access policies. Extensive performance evaluation is conducted and it shows the efficiency and the convergence of the learning algorithms.
Hokmabadi, AS, Fatahi, B & Samali, B 2015, 'Physical Modeling of Seismic Soil-Pile-Structure Interaction for Buildings on Soft Soils', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 04014046-04014046.
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© 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers. The present research intends to study the effects of the seismic soil-pile-structure interaction (SSPSI) on the dynamic response of buildings with various heights by conducting a series of shaking table tests on 5-, 10-story, and 15-story model structures. Two types of foundations for each case are investigated, including (1) a fixed-base structure, representing the situation excluding the soil-structure interaction; and (2) a structure supported by an end-bearing pile foundation in soft soil. An advanced laminar soil container has been designed that uses three-dimensional numerical modeling to minimize the boundary effects and to simulate free-field motion during the shaking table tests. Four real earthquake events, including Kobe 1995, Northridge 1994, El Centro 1940, and Hachinohe 1968, are imposed to each model. According to the experimental measurements, it is observed that the SSPSI amplifies the maximum lateral deflections and in turn interstory drifts of the structures supported by end-bearing pile foundations in comparison with the fixed-base structures. The rocking component plays an important role in increasing the lateral deflection of the superstructures, which can shift the performance level of the structures to near collapse or even collapse levels and as a result should be assessed precisely in the seismic design of buildings resting on soft soils.
Hong, H, Pradhan, B, Xu, C & Tien Bui, D 2015, 'Spatial prediction of landslide hazard at the Yihuang area (China) using two-class kernel logistic regression, alternating decision tree and support vector machines', CATENA, vol. 133, pp. 266-281.
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Ho-Pham, LT, Lai, TQ, Mai, LD, Doan, MC, Pham, HN & Nguyen, TV 2015, 'Prevalence and Pattern of Radiographic Intervertebral Disc Degeneration in Vietnamese: A Population-Based Study', Calcified Tissue International, vol. 96, no. 6, pp. 510-517.
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Ho-Pham, LT, Lai, TQ, Nguyen, MTT & Nguyen, TV 2015, 'Relationship between Body Mass Index and Percent Body Fat in Vietnamese: Implications for the Diagnosis of Obesity', PLOS ONE, vol. 10, no. 5, pp. e0127198-e0127198.
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© 2015 Ho-Pham et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background The burden of obesity in Vietnam has not been well defined because there is a lack of reference data for percent body fat (PBF) in Asians. This study sought to define the relationship between PBF and body mass index (BMI) in the Vietnamese population. Methods The study was designed as a comparative cross-sectional investigation that involved 1217 individuals of Vietnamese background (862 women) aged 20 years and older (average age 7 yr) who were randomly selected from the general population in Ho Chi Minh City. Lean mass (LM) and fat mass (FM) were measured by DXA (Hologic QDR 4500). PBF was derived as FM over body weight. Results Based on BMI 30, the prevalence of obesity was 1.1% and 1.3% for men and women, respectively. The prevalence of overweight and obesity combined (BMI 25) was ∼ 24% and ∼ 19% in men and women, respectively. Based on the quadratic relationship between BMI and PBF, the approximate PBF corresponding to the BMI threshold of 30 (obese) was 30.5 in men and 41 in women. Using the criteria of PBF >30 in men and PBF >40 in women, approximately 15% of men and women were considered obese. Conclusion These data suggest that body mass index underestimates the prevalence of obesity. We suggest that a PBF >30 in men or PBF >40 in women is used as criteria for the diagnosis of obesity in Vietnamese adults. Using these criteria, 15% of Vietnamese adults in Ho Chi Minh City was considered obese.
Ho-Pham, LT, Nguyen, SC, Tran, B & Nguyen, TV 2015, 'Contributions of Caucasian-associated bone mass loci to the variation in bone mineral density in Vietnamese population', Bone, vol. 76, pp. 18-22.
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Hossain, L, Karimi, F & Wigand, RT 2015, 'Dynamics of a Global Zoonotic Research Network Over 33 Years (1980–2012)', Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 496-503.
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AbstractObjectiveThe increasing rate of outbreaks in humans of zoonotic diseases requires detailed examination of the education, research, and practice of animal health and its connection to human health. This study investigated the collaboration network of different fields engaged in conducting zoonotic research from a transdisciplinary perspective.MethodsExamination of the dynamics of this network for a 33-year period from 1980 to 2012 is presented through the development of a large scientometric database from Scopus. In our analyses we compared several properties of these networks, including density, clustering coefficient, giant component, and centrality measures over time. We also elicited patterns in different fields of study collaborating with various other fields for zoonotic research.ResultsWe discovered that the strongest collaborations across disciplines are formed among the fields of medicine; biochemistry, genetics, and molecular biology; immunology and microbiology; veterinary; agricultural and biological sciences; and social sciences. Furthermore, the affiliation network is growing overall in terms of collaborative research among different fields of study such that more than two-thirds of all possible collaboration links among disciplines have already been formed.ConclusionsOur findings indicate that zoonotic research scientists in different fields (human or animal health, social science, earth and environmental sciences, engineering) have been actively collaborating with each other over the past 1...
Hossain, L, Karimi, F, Wigand, RT & Crawford, JW 2015, 'Evolutionary longitudinal network dynamics of global zoonotic research', Scientometrics, vol. 103, no. 2, pp. 337-353.
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Hossain, MJ, Pota, HR, Mahmud, MA & Aldeen, M 2015, 'Robust Control for Power Sharing in Microgrids With Low-Inertia Wind and PV Generators', IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, vol. 6, no. 3, pp. 1067-1077.
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Hossain, MS, Zander, P, Kamal, MS & Chowdhury, L 2015, 'Belief‐rule‐based expert systems for evaluation of e‐government: a case study', Expert Systems, vol. 32, no. 5, pp. 563-577.
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AbstractLittle knowledge exists on the impact and results associated with e‐government projects in many specific‐use domains. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the efficiency and effectiveness of e‐government systems. Because the development of e‐government is a continuous process of improvement, it requires continuous evaluation of the overall e‐government system as well as evaluation of its various dimensions such as determinants, characteristics and results. E‐government development is often complex, with multiple stakeholders, large user bases and complex goals. Consequently, even experts have difficulties in evaluating these systems, especially in an integrated and comprehensive way, as well as on an aggregate level. Expert systems are a candidate solution to evaluate such complex e‐government systems. However, it is difficult for expert systems to cope with uncertain evaluation data that are vague, inconsistent, highly subjective or in other ways, challenging to formalize. This paper presents an approach that can handle uncertainty in e‐government evaluation: the combination of Belief Rule Base knowledge representation and Evidential Reasoning. This approach is illustrated with a concrete prototype, known as the Belief Rule Based Expert System (BRBES) and implemented in the local e‐government of Bangladesh. The results have been compared with a recently developed method of evaluating e‐government, and it is demonstrated that the results of the BRBES are more accurate and reliable. The BRBES can be used to identify the factors that need to be improved to achieve the overall aim of an e‐government project. In addition, various ‘what if’ scenarios can be generated, and developers and managers can obtain a foretaste of the outcomes. Thus, the system can be used to facilitate decision‐making processes under uncertainty.
Hosseini, SSS, Yang, X-S, Gandomi, AH & Nemati, A 2015, 'Solutions of Non-smooth Economic Dispatch Problems by Swarm Intelligence', Adaptation, Learning, and Optimization, vol. 18, pp. 129-146.
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© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015. The increasing costs of fuels and operations of power generating units necessitate the development of optimization methods for economic dispatch (ED) problems. Classical optimization techniques such as direct search and gradient methods often fail to find global optimum solutions. Modern optimization techniques are often meta-heuristic, and they are very promising in solving nonlinear programming problems. This chapter presents a novel method to determine the feasible optimal solutions of the ED problems utilizing the newly developed Bat Algorithm (BA). The proposed BA is based on the echolocation behavior of bats. This technique is adapted to solve non-convex ED problems under different nonlinear constraints such as transmission losses, ramp rate limits, multi-fuel options and prohibited operating zones. Parameters are tuned to give the best results for these problems. To describe the efficiency and applicability of the proposed algorithm, we will use four ED test systems with non-convexity. We will compare our results with some of the most recently published ED solution methods. Comparing with the other existing techniques, the proposed approach can find better solutions than other methods. This method can be deemed to be a promising alternative for solving the ED problems in real systems.
Hou, L, Yin, G, Liu, M, Zhou, J, Zheng, Y, Gao, J, Zong, H, Yang, Y, Gao, L & Tong, C 2015, 'Effects of Sulfamethazine on Denitrification and the Associated N2O Release in Estuarine and Coastal Sediments', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 49, no. 1, pp. 326-333.
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Denitrification is an important pathway of nitrogen removal and nitrous oxide (N2O) production in estuarine and coastal ecosystems, and plays a significant role in counteracting aquatic eutrophication induced by excessive nitrogen loads. Estuarine and coastal environments also suffer from increasing antibiotic contamination because of the growing production and usage of antibiotics. In this study, sediment slurry incubation experiments were conducted to determine the influence of sulfamethazine (SMT, a sulphonamide antibiotic) on denitrification and the associated N2O production. Genes important for denitrification and antibiotic resistance were quantified to investigate the microbial physiological mechanisms underlying SMT's effects on denitrification. SMT was observed to significantly inhibit denitrification rates, but increasing concentrations of SMT enhanced N2O release rates. The negative exponential relationships between denitrifying gene abundances and SMT concentrations showed that SMT reduced denitrification rates by restricting the growth of denitrifying bacteria, although the presence of the antibiotic resistance gene was detected during the incubation period. These results imply that the wide occurrence of residual antibiotics in estuarine and coastal ecosystems may influence eutrophication control, greenhouse effects, and atmospheric ozone depletion by inhibiting denitrification and stimulating the release of N2O.
Hoven, E & Van Bergen, T 2015, 'Tangible Cooperative Gestures: Improving Control and Initiative in Digital Photo Sharing', Machines, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 268-295.
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This paper focuses on co-present digital photo sharing on a notebook and investigates how this could be supported. While analyzing the current digital photo sharing situation we noticed that there was a high threshold for visitors to take control of the personal computer of the photo owner, resulting in inequity of participation. It was assumed that visitors would have the opportunity to interact with the notebook more freely if this threshold was lowered by distributing the user interface and creating a more public, instead of personal, interaction space. This, in turn, could make them feel more involved and in control during a session, creating a more enjoyable experience. To test these assumptions a design prototype was created that stimulates participants to use tangible artifacts for cooperative gestures, a promising direction for the future of HCI. The situation with the cooperative gestures was compared with the regular digital photo sharing situation, which makes use of a keyboard. In dyads, visitors felt more involved and in control in the design prototype cooperative gestures condition (especially during storytelling), resulting in a more enjoyable digital photo sharing experience.
Hsieh, M-H & Watanabe, S 2015, 'Channel Simulation and Coded Source Compression', IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, vol. 62, no. 11, pp. 6609-6619, Nov. 2016, vol. 62, no. 11, pp. 6609-6619.
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Coded source compression, also known as source compression with helpers, hasbeen a major variant of distributed source compression, but has hithertoreceived little attention in the quantum regime. This work treats and solvesthe corresponding quantum coded source compression through an observation thatconnects coded source compression with channel simulation. First, we considerclassical source coding with quantum side information where the quantum sideinformation is observed by a helper and sent to the decoder via a classicalchannel. We derive a single-letter characterization of the achievable rateregion for this problem. The direct coding theorem of our result is proved viathe measurement compression theory of Winter, a quantum-to-classical channelsimulation. Our result reveals that a helper's scheme which separately conductsa measurement and a compression is suboptimal, and measurement compressionseems necessary to achieve the optimal rate region. We then study coded sourcecompression in the fully quantum regime, where two different scenarios areconsidered depending on the types of communication channels between thelegitimate source and the receiver. We further allow entanglement assistancefrom the quantum helper in both scenarios. We characterize the involved quantumresources, and derive single-letter expressions of the achievable rate region.The direct coding proofs are based on well-known quantum protocols, the quantumstate merging protocol and the fully quantum Slepian-Wolf protocol, togetherwith the quantum reverse Shannon theorem.
Hsu, B-W, Wang, M-JJ, Chen, C-Y & Chen, F 2015, 'Effective Indices for Monitoring Mental Workload While Performing Multiple Tasks', Perceptual and Motor Skills, vol. 121, no. 1, pp. 94-117.
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This study identified several physiological indices that can accurately monitor mental workload while participants performed multiple tasks with the strategy of maintaining stable performance and maximizing accuracy. Thirty male participants completed three 10-min. simulated multitasks: MATB (Multi-Attribute Task Battery) with three workload levels. Twenty-five commonly used mental workload measures were collected, including heart rate, 12 HRV (heart rate variability), 10 EEG (electroencephalography) indices (α, β, θ, α/θ, θ/β from O1-O2 and F4-C4), and two subjective measures. Analyses of index sensitivity showed that two EEG indices, θ and α/θ (F4-C4), one time-domain HRV-SDNN (standard deviation of inter-beat intervals), and four frequency-domain HRV: VLF (very low frequency), LF (low frequency), %HF (percentage of high frequency), and LF/HF were sensitive to differentiate high workload. EEG α/θ (F4-C4) and LF/HF were most effective for monitoring high mental workload. LF/HF showed the highest correlations with other physiological indices. EEG α/θ (F4-C4) showed strong correlations with subjective measures across diff erent mental workload levels. Operation strategy would affect the sensitivity of EEG α (F4-C4) and HF.
Hu, H, Choo, Y, Feng, X & Osuji, CO 2015, 'Physical Continuity and Vertical Alignment of Block Copolymer Domains by Kinetically Controlled Electrospray Deposition', Macromolecular Rapid Communications, vol. 36, no. 13, pp. 1290-1296.
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The fabrication of block copolymer (BCP) thin films is reported with vertically aligned cylindrical domains using continuous electrospray deposition onto bare wafer surfaces. The out‐of‐plane orientation of hexagonally packed styrene cylinders is achieved in the “fast‐wet” deposition regime in which rapid evaporation of the solvent in deposited droplets of polymer solution drives the vertical alignment of the self‐assembled structure. Thermally activated crosslinking of the polybutadiene matrix provides kinetic control of the morphology, freezing the vertical alignment and preventing relaxation of the system to its preferred parallel orientation on the nontreated substrate. Physically continuous vertically oriented domains can be achieved over several micrometers of film thickness. The ability of electrospray deposition to fabricate well‐ordered and aligned BCP films on nontreated substrates, the low amount of material used relative to spin‐coating, and the continuous nature of the deposition may open up new opportunities for BCP thin films.image
Hu, S & Yuan, X 2015, 'Reflections inspired by the debate on conventional and off-pump coronary artery bypass graft', The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, vol. 150, no. 3, pp. 734-735.
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Huang, C-S, Pal, NR, Chuang, C-H & Lin, C-T 2015, 'Identifying changes in EEG information transfer during drowsy driving by transfer entropy', Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, vol. 9, no. OCTOBER.
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© 2015 Huang, Pal, Chuang and Lin. Drowsy driving is a major cause of automobile accidents. Previous studies used neuroimaging based approaches such as analysis of electroencephalogram (EEG) activities to understand the brain dynamics of different cortical regions during drowsy driving. However, the coupling between brain regions responding to this vigilance change is still unclear. To have a comprehensive understanding of neural mechanisms underlying drowsy driving, in this study we use transfer entropy, a model-free measure of effective connectivity based on information theory. We investigate the pattern of information transfer between brain regions when the vigilance level, which is derived from the driving performance, changes from alertness to drowsiness. Results show that the couplings between pairs of frontal, central, and parietal areas increased at the intermediate level of vigilance, which suggests that an enhancement of the cortico-cortical interaction is necessary to maintain the task performance and prevent behavioral lapses. Additionally, the occipital-related connectivity magnitudes monotonically decreases as the vigilance level declines, which further supports the cortical gating of sensory stimuli during drowsiness. Neurophysiological evidence of mutual relationships between brain regions measured by transfer entropy might enhance the understanding of cortico-cortical communication during drowsy driving.
Huang, L, Cheng, J, Li, X, Yuan, D, Ni, W, Qu, G, Guan, Q, Zhang, Y & Wang, B 2015, 'Sulfur quantum dots wrapped by conductive polymer shell with internal void spaces for high-performance lithium–sulfur batteries', Journal of Materials Chemistry A, vol. 3, no. 7, pp. 4049-4057.
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Novel core–shell sulfur quantum dots/PVK nanocomposites were synthesized by a facile two-step dissolution–precipitation method.
Huang, M, Ouyang, L, Wang, H, Liu, J & Zhu, M 2015, 'Hydrogen generation by hydrolysis of MgH2 and enhanced kinetics performance of ammonium chloride introducing', International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, vol. 40, no. 18, pp. 6145-6150.
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Huang, TN, Yi, X, Boon, CC, He, X, Feng, G, Lim, WM & Zhu, X 2015, 'A CMOS W-Band <formula formulatype='inline'> <tex Notation='TeX'>$4{\times}$</tex></formula> Quasi-Subharmonic Mixer', IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 25, no. 6, pp. 385-387.
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Huang, W, Huang, L, Sheng, D & Sloan, SW 2015, 'DEM modelling of shear localization in a plane Couette shear test of granular materials', Acta Geotechnica, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 389-397.
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Huang, X, Cheng, H, Li, R-H, Qin, L & Yu, JX 2015, 'Top-K structural diversity search in large networks.', VLDB J., vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 319-343.
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© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Social contagion depicts a process of information (e.g., fads, opinions, news) diffusion in the online social networks. A recent study reports that in a social contagion process, the probability of contagion is tightly controlled by the number of connected components in an individual’s neighborhood. Such a number is termed structural diversity of an individual, and it is shown to be a key predictor in the social contagion process. Based on this, a fundamental issue in a social network is to find top-$$k$$k users with the highest structural diversities. In this paper, we, for the first time, study the top-$$k$$k structural diversity search problem in a large network. Specifically, we study two types of structural diversity measures, namely, component-based structural diversity measure and core-based structural diversity measure. For component-based structural diversity, we develop an effective upper bound of structural diversity for pruning the search space. The upper bound can be incrementally refined in the search process. Based on such upper bound, we propose an efficient framework for top-$$k$$k structural diversity search. To further speed up the structural diversity evaluation in the search process, several carefully devised search strategies are proposed. We also design efficient techniques to handle frequent updates in dynamic networks and maintain the top-$$k$$k results. We further show how the techniques proposed in component-based structural diversity measure can be extended to handle the core-based structural diversity measure. Extensive experimental studies are conducted in real-world large networks and synthetic graphs, and the results demonstrate the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed methods.
Huang, X, Zhang, JA & Guo, YJ 2015, 'Out-of-band emission reduction and a unified framework for precoded OFDM', IEEE Communications Magazine, vol. 53, no. 6, pp. 151-159.
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© 1979-2012 IEEE. OFDM has been regarded as a promising candidate for use in cognitive radio systems with dynamic spectrum reuse capability. However, conventional OFDM has significant OOBE, which can cause severe interference to systems operating in adjacent frequency bands. In addition to conventional techniques such as spectral shaping filtering, guard band insertion, and time domain windowing, new OOBE reduction techniques, including cancellation carrier and spectral precoding, have been proposed in recent years. This article reviews various OOBE reduction techniques and proposes a generalized lowcomplexity OOBE reduction framework for discrete Fourier transform precoded OFDM. With the allocation of explicit frequency domain cancellation subcarriers and data domain cancellation symbols, the proposed framework enables various configurations to achieve significant OOBE reduction with low implementation complexity, and provides flexibility in balancing OOBE reduction and other performance metrics such as peak-to-average power ratio.
Huang, Y, Hong, G & Huang, R 2015, 'Investigation to charge cooling effect and combustion characteristics of ethanol direct injection in a gasoline port injection engine', Applied Energy, vol. 160, pp. 244-254.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Ethanol direct injection has the potentials to increase the engine compression ratio and thermal efficiency by taking advantages of ethanol fuel such as the high octane number and latent heat. In this study, CFD modelling and experiments were carried out to investigate the charge cooling effect and combustion characteristics of ethanol direct injection in a gasoline port injection (EDI. +. GPI) engine. Experiments were conducted on a single-cylinder spark ignition engine equipped with EDI. +. GPI over a full range of ethanol ratio from 0% (GPI only) to 100% (EDI only). Multidimensional CFD simulations to the partially premixed dual-fuel spray combustion were performed to understand the experimental results. The simulations were verified by comparing with the experimental results. Simulation results showed that the overall cooling effect of EDI was enhanced with the increase of ethanol ratio from 0% to 58%, but was not enhanced with further increase of ethanol ratio. When the ethanol ratio was greater than 58%, a large number of liquid ethanol droplets were left in the combustion chamber during combustion and fuel impingement on the cylinder wall became significant, leading to local overcooling in the near-wall region and over-lean mixture at the spark plug gap. As a consequence, the CO and HC emissions increased due to incomplete combustion. Compared with GPI only, the faster flame speed of ethanol fuel contributed to the greater peak cylinder pressure of EDI. +. GPI condition, which resulted in higher power output and thermal efficiency. Meanwhile, the mixture became leaner with the increase of ethanol ratio. As a result, the IMEP was increased, combustion initiation duration and major combustion duration were decreased when ethanol ratio was in 0-58%. The combustion performance was deteriorated when ethanol ratio was greater than 58%. Experimental and numerical results showed that the IMEP, thermal efficiency and emissions of this...
Huang, Y, Hong, G & Huang, R 2015, 'Numerical investigation to the dual-fuel spray combustion process in an ethanol direct injection plus gasoline port injection (EDI+GPI) engine', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 92, pp. 275-286.
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©2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Ethanol direct injection plus gasoline port injection (EDI + GPI) is a new technology to make the use of ethanol fuel more effective and efficient in spark ignition engines. Multi-dimensional computational fluid dynamics modelling was conducted on an EDI + GPI engine in both single and dual fuelled conditions. The in-cylinder flow field was solved in the realizable k-ε turbulence model with detailed engine geometry. The temporal and spatial distributions of the liquid and vapour fuels were simulated with the spray breakup and evaporation models. The combustion process was modelled with the partially premixed combustion concept in which both mixture fraction and progress variable were solved. The three-dimensional and five-dimensional presumed Probability Density Function (PDF) look-up tables were used to model the single-fraction-mixture and two-fraction-mixture turbulence-chemistry interactions respectively. The model was verified by comparing the numerical and experimental results of spray pattern and cylinder pressure. The simulation results showed that the combustion process of EDI + GPI dual-fuelled condition was partially premixed combustion because of the low evaporation rate of ethanol spray in low temperature environment before combustion. Compared with GPI only, the higher flame speed of ethanol fuel contributed to the greater pressure rise rate and maximum cylinder pressure in EDI + GPI condition, which consequently resulted in higher power output and thermal efficiency. The lower adiabatic flame temperature of ethanol, partially premixed combustion mode and stronger cooling effect of ethanol direct injection in EDI + GPI led to the reduced combustion temperature which contributed to the decrease of NO emission. Among these three factors, the lower adiabatic flame temperature and partially premixed combustion mode were the dominating factors that resulted in the low combustion temperature of EDI + GPI....
Hussain, OK, Zia-ur-Rahman, Hussain, FK, Singh, J, Janjua, NK & Chang, E 2015, 'A User-Based Early Warning Service Management Framework in Cloud Computing', COMPUTER JOURNAL, vol. 58, no. 3, pp. 472-496.
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Cloud computing is a very attractive option for service users and service providers for their businesses because of the benefits it provides. A major concern among service users regarding cloud adoption, however, is the unpredictability of performance in relation to the services provided. Even though guarantees in the form of service-level agreements are provided to users by service providers, real-time service-level degradability remains a critical concern; hence, there is a need for an approach that assists users to manage a service before it fails. The approaches proposed in the literature assess and evaluate the performance of the cloud infrastructure of providers, but this does not guarantee that a given service instance will meet the desired quality level because there may be factors other than the provider's infrastructure that will affect the level of quality of the service instance. In this paper, we present an approach that measures the quality of a service instance in real time and provides important analysis for service users as to whether they will achieve their desired objectives. This analysis also constitutes an important input for service users in the assessment and management of a service to avoid the failure to achieve objectives.
Hussain, S, Roy, NC, Hossain, MA & Saha, SC 2015, 'Effect of Fluctuating Surface Heat and Mass Flux on Natural Convection Flow along a Vertical Flat Plate', Mathematical Problems in Engineering, vol. 2015, pp. 1-15.
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An investigation has been carried on double diffusive effect on boundary layer flow due to small amplitude oscillation in surface heat and mass flux. Extensive parametric simulations were performed in order to elucidate the effects of some important parameters, that is, Prandtl number, Schmidt number, and Buoyancy ratio parameter on flow field in conjunction with heat and mass transfer. Asymptotic solutions for low and high frequencies are obtained for the conveniently transformed governing coupled equations. Solutions are also obtained for wide ranged value of the frequency parameters. Comparisons between the asymptotic and wide ranged values are made in terms of the amplitudes and phases of the shear stress, surface heat transfer, and surface mass transfer. It has been found that the amplitudes and phase angles obtained from asymptotic solutions are found in good agreement with the finite difference solutions obtained for wide ranged value of the frequency parameter.
Hussaini, SKK, Indraratna, B & Vinod, JS 2015, 'Application of Optical-Fiber Bragg Grating Sensors in Monitoring the Rail Track Deformations', Geotechnical Testing Journal, vol. 38, no. 4, pp. 20140123-20140123.
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Hussaini, SKK, Indraratna, B & Vinod, JS 2015, 'Performance assessment of geogrid-reinforced railroad ballast during cyclic loading', Transportation Geotechnics, vol. 2, pp. 99-107.
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© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. Recently, rail practitioners have resorted to the use of geogrids as a low-cost solution to stabilise ballast. In view of this, large-scale cyclic tests have been conducted on reinforced ballast using a modified process simulation test (MPST) apparatus at a loading frequency of 20. Hz, with geogrid placed at the subballast-ballast interface and within the ballast. Fresh latite basalt having a mean particle size of 35. mm and geogrids with different aperture sizes was used. The experimental results indicate that the geogrid arrests the lateral spreading of ballast, reduces the extent of permanent vertical settlement and minimises the particle breakage. However, the in track performance is shown to be influenced by the shear behaviour at the ballast-geogrid interface, wherein the extent of both lateral and vertical deformation reduce with the increase in shear strength at the ballast-geogrid interface. Moreover, the geogrid also helps in minimising the extent of differential track settlement that arises due to the difference in sleeper-ballast contact stress along the track length. The efficiency of geogrid is found to be identical at vertical stresses of 230 and 460. kPa. These test results highlight the role of geogrid in stabilising ballast, thus encouraging its use in railway applications.
Hyde, PJ, Tipper, J, Fisher, J & Hall, RM 2015, 'Wear and biological effects of a semi-constrained total disc replacement subject to modified ISO standard test conditions', Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, vol. 44, pp. 43-52.
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Iacopi, F, Mishra, N, Cunning, BV, Goding, D, Dimitrijev, S, Brock, R, Dauskardt, RH, Wood, B & Boeckl, J 2015, 'A catalytic alloy approach for graphene on epitaxial SiC on silicon wafers', Journal of Materials Research, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 609-616.
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Abstract
Iacopi, F, Van Hove, M, Charles, M & Endo, K 2015, 'Power electronics with wide bandgap materials: Toward greener, more efficient technologies', MRS Bulletin, vol. 40, no. 5, pp. 390-395.
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Abstract
Idrees, MO, Saeidi, V, Pradhan, B & Shafri, HZM 2015, 'Maximizing Urban Features Extraction from Multi-sensor Data with Dempster-Shafer Theory and HSI Data Fusion Techniques', Asian Journal of Applied Sciences (ISSN: 2321–0893), vol. 3, no. 02.
Imtenan, S, Ashrafur Rahman, SM, Masjuki, HH, Varman, M & Kalam, MA 2015, 'Effect of dynamic injection pressure on performance, emission and combustion characteristics of a compression ignition engine', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 52, pp. 1205-1211.
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Imtenan, S, Masjuki, HH, Varman, M & Rizwanul Fattah, IM 2015, 'Evaluation of n-butanol as an oxygenated additive to improve combustion-emission-performance characteristics of a diesel engine fuelled with a diesel-calophyllum inophyllum biodiesel blend', RSC Advances, vol. 5, no. 22, pp. 17160-17170.
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Oxygenated additives modify the physicochemical properties of the biodiesel–diesel blends which influences the combustion mechanism in a way that improves the performance and emission characteristics significantly.
Imtenan, S, Masjuki, HH, Varman, M, Rizwanul Fattah, IM, Sajjad, H & Arbab, MI 2015, 'Effect of n-butanol and diethyl ether as oxygenated additives on combustion–emission-performance characteristics of a multiple cylinder diesel engine fuelled with diesel–jatropha biodiesel blend', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 94, pp. 84-94.
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Indraratna, B 2015, 'Editorial', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Ground Improvement, vol. 168, no. 1, pp. 1-2.
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Indraratna, B, Biabani, MM & Nimbalkar, S 2015, 'Behavior of Geocell-Reinforced Subballast Subjected to Cyclic Loading in Plane-Strain Condition', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 141, no. 1, pp. 04014081-04014081.
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Indraratna, B, Heitor, A & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2015, 'Ground improvement methods for port infrastructure expansion', Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 46, no. 3, pp. 125-130.
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The demand for reliable and efficient transport infrastructure is vital to sustain Australia's economic growth and quality of life. Due to the forecasted increase in the freight trade demand, existing Ports will need to undergo major expansion, e.g. for accommodating berths suitable for bulk cargoes and container handling. To maximise the use of available land, typically port expansions projects involve land reclamation which includes the use of dredged materials (e.g. Port of Brisbane) or other granular fill materials locally available (e.g. Port Kembla). In both situations, ground improvement methods need to be implemented to ensure the fills and the foundations for the port infrastructure have sufficient shear strength and bearing capacity to comply with serviceability requirements in terms of settlement and lateral displacements. In this paper, typical ground improvement methods employed in Port infrastructure are described and their application in two different Australian Port Infrastructure projects is discussed.
Indraratna, B, Israr, J & Rujikiatkamjorn, C 2015, 'Geometrical Method for Evaluating the Internal Instability of Granular Filters Based on Constriction Size Distribution', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 141, no. 10, pp. 04015045-04015045.
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Indraratna, B, Kumara, C, Zhu, S-P & Sloan, S 2015, 'Mathematical Modeling and Experimental Verification of Fluid Flow through Deformable Rough Rock Joints', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 04014065-04014065.
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Indraratna, B, Mahdi Biabani, M & Nimbalkar, S 2015, 'Closure to “Behavior of Geocell-Reinforced Subballast Subjected to Cyclic Loading in Plane-Strain Condition” by Buddhima Indraratna, M. Mahdi Biabani, and Sanjay Nimbalkar', Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering, vol. 141, no. 10, pp. 07015028-07015028.
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Indraratna, B, Ngo, NT, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Sloan, SW 2015, 'Coupled discrete element–finite difference method for analysing the load-deformation behaviour of a single stone column in soft soil', Computers and Geotechnics, vol. 63, pp. 267-278.
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Experimental studies and numerical modelling of the deformation of soft clay stabilised by stone columns have been conducted over the past few decades. Continuum-based numerical models have provided valuable insight into the prediction of settlement, lateral deformation, and stress and strain-rate dependent behaviour of stone columns at a macroscopic scale, but because they consist of granular material such as crushed rock, gravel, and waste rock aggregates, their behaviour is influenced by inter-particle micromechanics and cannot be modelled properly using these models. In this paper a novel coupled model of the discrete element method (DEM) and finite difference method (FDM) is presented to study the deformation of a single stone column installed in soft ground. In this coupled discrete-continuum method, PFC2D and FLAC were used to model the interaction between the stone column and surrounding clay, respectively. The contact forces at the interface between the two zones were determined through a socket connection that allows the DEM to transfer forces and moments to the FDM and vice versa. The predicted results were comparable to the data measured experimentally, showing that the coupled discrete-continuum model proposed in this study could simulate the load-deformation behaviour of a stone column installed in clay. The contact force distribution and shear stress contour developed in the stone column and surrounding clay were captured to provide a better understanding of the load-deformation behaviour of the stone column.
Indraratna, B, Ni, J, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Zhong, R 2015, 'A partially drained model for soft soils under cyclic loading considering cyclic parameter degradation', Australian Geomechanics Journal, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 89-95.
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Cyclic loading induced foundation instabilities including loss of bearing capacity and excessive plastic deformation of the subgrade are among the major concerns for the design and construction of transport infrastructure. There were limited studies on the modelling of cyclic loading of soft soils due to its complexities compared to static loading. In this study, a model for soft clays under partially drained condition subject to cyclic triaxial loading has been developed based on the Modified Cam-clay theory. The yield surface contraction for elastic unloading was governed by two additional cyclic degradation parameters to the modified Cam-clay model. This model was validated using the results of a series of undrained and partially drained cyclic triaxial loading tests on kaolin. A good agreement between the numerical prediction and the measured excess pore pressures was obtained. Furthermore, the factors which influence the cyclic performance of soft soils, e.g. the cyclic stress ratios, the anisotropic consolidation stress and the coefficient of consolidation were investigated. This model was then applied to the consolidation of soft soils under cyclic loading, which represents the application of partially penetrated vertical drains for road and rail infrastructure, at the soft soil sites for a rail project in Sandgate, NSW. The objective of the partially penetrated drains within this deep estuarine soil layer was to consolidate the shallow soft clays and stabilise the new built tracks.
Indraratna, B, Pathirage, U & Banasiak, L 2015, 'A review of acidic groundwater remediation in the shoalhaven floodplain in Australia', Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 46, no. 4, pp. 41-46.
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Acid sulfate soils can be found around low-lying coastal floodplains. Acidic groundwater generated from acid sulfate soils creates adverse conditions to vegetation and aquatic life and corrodes steel and concrete infrastructure. As long as these soils are undisturbed and below the groundwater table, they are chemically inert. Therefore, it is important to maintain the groundwater table above the sulfidic soil horizon. Modified floodgates and weirs have been implemented in these low-lying areas to improve water quality. Nevertheless, these methods are not promising in low-lying areas because of the risk of flooding. As a solution, a pilot-scale permeable reactive barrier was installed and has proven to be a promising technology for long-term remediation. This paper presents a review of the above mentioned methods used for acidic groundwater remediation in coastal Australia with detailed field verification data.
Indraratna, B, Perera, D, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Kelly, R 2015, 'Soil disturbance analysis due to vertical drain installation', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 168, no. 3, pp. 236-246.
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The installation of drains creates a disturbed region known as a smear zone where the change in the clay structure affects the horizontal permeability and compressibility. The parameters required to characterise the smear effect are the extent of the smear zone and the ratio of the horizontal coefficient of permeability in the undisturbed zone and in the smear zone. Only limited studies have been carried out on different aspects of soil disturbance due to driving vertical drains and its effects on the subsequent consolidation. In this paper the disturbed zone around a rectangular mandrel was characterised using soil samples obtained from the soft clay layer at various locations beneath an embankment built at Ballina, Australia, where vertical drains were installed. By determining the change in the coefficient of permeability, the water content and volume compressibility across the smear zone, the effects of soil disturbance on consolidation due to the installation of drains can be quantified using the available numerical model.
Indraratna, B, Sun, QD & Nimbalkar, S 2015, 'Observed and predicted behaviour of rail ballast under monotonic loading capturing particle breakage', Canadian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 73-86.
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A substantial amount of experimental evidence suggests that the critical state envelope for ballast is nonlinear, especially at low confining pressure. To study the implications of this nonlinearity and the associated role of particle breakage, monotonically loaded drained triaxial tests were conducted using a large-scale cylindrical triaxial apparatus. A nonlinear critical state envelope is determined in the q–p′ and υ–lnp′ planes. Mathematical expressions for critical state stress ratio and specific volume are proposed to incorporate the evolution of particle breakage during monotonic shearing. In this paper, an elastoplastic constitutive model based on the critical state soil mechanics framework is presented to capture the salient aspects of stress–strain behaviour and degradation of ballast. Constitutive parameters were conveniently determined from large-scale laboratory tests. The model is able to predict the monotonic shear behaviour of ballast corroborating with the laboratory measurements. The proposed model is further validated using experimental results available from past independent studies.
Indraratna, B, Thirukumaran, S, Brown, ET & Zhu, S-P 2015, 'Modelling the Shear Behaviour of Rock Joints with Asperity Damage Under Constant Normal Stiffness', Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, vol. 48, no. 1, pp. 179-195.
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Iqbal, MA, Varman, M, Hassan, MH, Kalam, MA, Hossain, S & Sayeed, I 2015, 'Tailoring fuel properties using jatropha, palm and coconut biodiesel to improve CI engine performance and emission characteristics', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 101, pp. 262-270.
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Ismail, MS, Moghavvemi, M, Mahlia, TMI, Muttaqi, KM & Moghavvemi, S 2015, 'Effective utilization of excess energy in standalone hybrid renewable energy systems for improving comfort ability and reducing cost of energy: A review and analysis', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 42, pp. 726-734.
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Ivanyos, G, Karpinski, M, Qiao, Y & Santha, M 2015, 'Generalized Wong sequences and their applications to Edmonds' problems', Journal of Computer and System Sciences, vol. 81, no. 7, pp. 1373-1386.
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© 2015 Elsevier Inc. Given a linear subspace B of the n×n matrices over some field F, we consider the following problems: symbolic matrix rank (SMR) asks to determine the maximum rank among matrices in B, while symbolic determinant identity testing (SDIT) asks to decide whether there exists a nonsingular matrix in B. The constructive versions of these problems ask to find a matrix of maximum rank, respectively a nonsingular matrix, if there exists one. Our first algorithm solves the constructive SMR when B is spanned by unknown rank one matrices, answering an open question of Gurvits. Our second algorithm solves the constructive SDIT when B is spanned by triangularizable matrices. (The triangularization is not given explicitly.) Both algorithms work over fields of size ≥n+1. Our framework is based on generalizing Wong sequences, a classical method to deal with pairs of matrices, to pairs of matrix spaces.
Izadyar, N, Ghadamian, H, Ong, HC, moghadam, Z, Tong, CW & Shamshirband, S 2015, 'Appraisal of the support vector machine to forecast residential heating demand for the District Heating System based on the monthly overall natural gas consumption', Energy, vol. 93, pp. 1558-1567.
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Izadyar, N, Ong, HC, Shamshirband, S, Ghadamian, H & Tong, CW 2015, 'Intelligent forecasting of residential heating demand for the District Heating System based on the monthly overall natural gas consumption', Energy and Buildings, vol. 104, pp. 208-214.
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Jacobs, DA & Waldron, KJ 2015, 'Modeling Inelastic Collisions With the Hunt–Crossley Model Using the Energetic Coefficient of Restitution', Journal of Computational and Nonlinear Dynamics, vol. 10, no. 2.
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Modeling collision and contact accurately is essential to simulating many multibody systems. The three parameter Hunt–Crossley model is a continuous collision model for representing the contact dynamics of viscoelastic systems. By augmenting Hertz's elastic theory with a nonlinear damper, Hunt and Crossley captured part of the viscoelastic and velocity dependent behavior found in many systems. In the Hunt–Crossley model, the power parameter and the elastic coefficient can be related to the physical properties through Hertz's elastic theory but the damping coefficient cannot. Generally, the damping coefficient is related to an empirical measurement, the coefficient of restitution. Over the past few decades, several authors have posed relationships between the coefficient of restitution and the damping constant but key challenges remain. In the first portion of the paper, we derive an approximate expression for Stronge's (energetic) coefficient of restitution that has better accuracy for high velocities and low coefficient of restitution values than the published solutions based on Taylor series approximations. We present one method for selecting the model parameters from five empirical measurements using a genetic optimization routine. In the second portion of the paper, we investigate the application of the Hunt–Crossley model to an inhomogeneous system of a rubber covered aluminum sphere on a plate. Although this system does not fit the inclusion criteria for the Hunt–Crossley, it is representative of many systems of interest where authors have chosen the Hunt–Crossley model to represent the contact dynamics. The results show that a fitted model well predicts collision behavior at low values of the coefficient of restitution.
Jahanshiri, E, bin Mohamed Shariff, AR, Amiri, F, Soom, MAM, Wayayokb, A, Buyonga, T & Pradhan, B 2015, 'Spatial soil analysis using geostatistical analysis and map Algebra', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 8, no. 11, pp. 9775-9788.
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Jahed Armaghani, D, Faizi, K, Hajihassani, M, Tonnizam Mohamad, E & Nazir, R 2015, 'Effects of soil reinforcement on uplift resistance of buried pipeline', Measurement, vol. 64, pp. 57-63.
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Jahed Armaghani, D, Hajihassani, M, Marto, A, Shirani Faradonbeh, R & Mohamad, ET 2015, 'Prediction of blast-induced air overpressure: a hybrid AI-based predictive model', Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, vol. 187, no. 11.
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Jahed Armaghani, D, Hajihassani, M, Monjezi, M, Mohamad, ET, Marto, A & Moghaddam, MR 2015, 'Application of two intelligent systems in predicting environmental impacts of quarry blasting', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 8, no. 11, pp. 9647-9665.
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Jahed Armaghani, D, Hajihassani, M, Sohaei, H, Tonnizam Mohamad, E, Marto, A, Motaghedi, H & Moghaddam, MR 2015, 'Neuro-fuzzy technique to predict air-overpressure induced by blasting', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 8, no. 12, pp. 10937-10950.
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Jahed Armaghani, D, Tonnizam Mohamad, E, Momeni, E, Narayanasamy, MS & Mohd Amin, MF 2015, 'An adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system for predicting unconfined compressive strength and Young’s modulus: a study on Main Range granite', Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, vol. 74, no. 4, pp. 1301-1319.
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Jamil, S, Loganathan, P, Kazner, C & Vigneswaran, S 2015, 'Forward osmosis treatment for volume minimisation of reverse osmosis concentrate from a water reclamation plant and removal of organic micropollutants', DESALINATION, vol. 372, pp. 32-38.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Reverse osmosis concentrate (ROC) produced in water reclamation and desalination plants can endanger the environment if it is not treated before discharge. Volume minimisation of ROC can help in its easy disposal. The study examined the use of forward osmosis (FO) with and without granular activated carbon (GAC) fixed-bed adsorption pretreatment for volume minimisation of ROC and removal of organic micropollutants. Five repeated FO steps using 2 or 3. M NaCl as the draw solution reduced the volume of ROC to 8%. With each successive step the flux decreased due to membrane fouling and scaling caused by increased concentrations of organics and inorganics resulting from volume reduction of ROC. However, flux decline was arrested in the second or third step by reducing the pH of the feed solution from 7.0 to 5.0. FO treatment rejected 9 of the 18 organic micropollutants at >. 82% and GAC treatment removed 15 of them at >. 82%. GAC pre-treatment followed by FO treatment removed almost all the organic micropollutants from the ROC. GAC pretreatment also reduced total organic carbon concentration in ROC by adsorption, thus controlling membrane fouling.
Janjua, NK, Hussain, OK, Hussain, FK & Chang, E 2015, 'Philosophical and Logic-Based Argumentation-Driven Reasoning Approaches and their Realization on the WWW: A Survey', The Computer Journal, vol. 58, no. 9, pp. 1967-1999.
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Argumentation is the practice of systematic conscious reasoning involving the construction and evaluation of arguments to justify or support a particular conclusion. This article discusses, compares, contrasts and categorizes existing argumentation-based frameworks and applications as either philosophical or logic-based, and provides critical analysis that emphasizes the structure of arguments and the interactions between them. This review compares and contrasts the frameworks and applications of argumentation-based approaches on Web 2.0 and the Semantic Web, and subsequently highlights the importance and challenges of attaining monological argumentation on the Semantic Web.
Jayawardhana, M, Zhu, X, Liyanapathirana, R & Gunawardana, U 2015, 'An experimental study for decentralized damage detection of beam structures using wireless sensor networks', Structural Monitoring and Maintenance, vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 237-252.
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© 2015 Techno-Press, Ltd. This paper addresses the issue of reliability and performance in wireless sensor networks (WSN) based structural health monitoring (SHM), particularly with decentralized damage identification techniques. Two decentralized damage identification algorithms, namely, the autoregressive (AR) model based damage index and the Wiener filter method are developed for structural damage detection. The ambient and impact testing have been carried out on the steel beam structure in the laboratory. Seven wireless sensors are installed evenly along the steel beam and seven wired sensor are also installed on the beam to monitor the dynamic responses as comparison. The results showed that wireless measurements performed very much similar to wired measurements in detecting and localizing damages in the steel beam. Therefore, apart from the usual advantages of cost effectiveness, manageability, modularity etc., wireless sensors can be considered a possible substitute for wired sensors in SHM systems.
Jayawardhana, M, Zhu, X, Liyanapathirana, R & Gunawardana, U 2015, 'Statistical Damage Sensitive Feature for Structural Damage Detection Using AR Model Coefficients', Advances in Structural Engineering, vol. 18, no. 10, pp. 1551-1562.
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Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) and damage detection techniques have captured much interest and attention of researchers and structural engineers owing to their promising ability to provide spatial and quantitative information regarding structural damage and the performance of a structure during its life-cycle. With the development of smart sensors and communication technologies, Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) has empowered the advancement in SHM. Recently, time series models have been widely used for structural damage detection due to the sensitivity of the model coefficients and residual errors to the damages in the structure. This paper presents a simple index that is computed using the Auto-Regressive (AR) model coefficients as an effective damage sensitive feature (DSF) for the detection of structural damage. Based on this feature, a damage identification method is developed. The Fisher information criterion of the computed DSF is used to statistically decide on the location of damage. This method has been implemented in a simulation environment and the verification of its accuracy in structural damage detection has been carried out experimentally. Experimental data is obtained using wireless sensors from a series of tests performed on a steel beam. The novel damage feature combined with the Fisher criterion for statistical evaluation has shown potential in effective structural damage detection.
Jebur, MN, Pradhan, B & Tehrany, MS 2015, 'Manifestation of LiDAR-Derived Parameters in the Spatial Prediction of Landslides Using Novel Ensemble Evidential Belief Functions and Support Vector Machine Models in GIS', IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Applied Earth Observations and Remote Sensing, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 674-690.
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Jebur, MN, Pradhan, B & Tehrany, MS 2015, 'Using ALOS PALSAR derived high-resolution DInSAR to detect slow-moving landslides in tropical forest: Cameron Highlands, Malaysia', Geomatics, Natural Hazards and Risk, vol. 6, no. 8, pp. 741-759.
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Jebur, MN, Pradhan, B, Shafri, HZM, Yusoff, ZM & Tehrany, MS 2015, 'An integrated user-friendly ArcMAP tool for bivariate statistical modelling in geoscience applications', Geoscientific Model Development, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 881-891.
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Abstract. Modelling and classification difficulties are fundamental issues in natural hazard assessment. A geographic information system (GIS) is a domain that requires users to use various tools to perform different types of spatial modelling. Bivariate statistical analysis (BSA) assists in hazard modelling. To perform this analysis, several calculations are required and the user has to transfer data from one format to another. Most researchers perform these calculations manually by using Microsoft Excel or other programs. This process is time-consuming and carries a degree of uncertainty. The lack of proper tools to implement BSA in a GIS environment prompted this study. In this paper, a user-friendly tool, bivariate statistical modeler (BSM), for BSA technique is proposed. Three popular BSA techniques, such as frequency ratio, weight-of-evidence (WoE), and evidential belief function (EBF) models, are applied in the newly proposed ArcMAP tool. This tool is programmed in Python and created by a simple graphical user interface (GUI), which facilitates the improvement of model performance. The proposed tool implements BSA automatically, thus allowing numerous variables to be examined. To validate the capability and accuracy of this program, a pilot test area in Malaysia is selected and all three models are tested by using the proposed program. Area under curve (AUC) is used to measure the success rate and prediction rate. Results demonstrate that the proposed program executes BSA with reasonable accuracy. The proposed BSA tool can be used in numerous applications, such as natural hazard, mineral potential, hydrological, and other engineering and environmental applications.
Jeong, S & Vigneswaran, S 2015, 'Practical use of standard pore blocking index as an indicator of biofouling potential in seawater desalination', Desalination, vol. 365, pp. 8-14.
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Jeong, Y-S, Shyu, M-L, Xu, G & Wagner, RR 2015, 'Guest Editorial: Advanced Technologies and Services for Multimedia Big Data Processing', Multimedia Tools and Applications, vol. 74, no. 10, pp. 3413-3418.
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Ji, E, Weickert, CS, Lenroot, R, Catts, SV, Vercammen, A, White, C, Gur, RE & Weickert, TW 2015, 'Endogenous testosterone levels are associated with neural activity in men with schizophrenia during facial emotion processing', Behavioural Brain Research, vol. 286, pp. 338-346.
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Ji, L-Y, Guo, YJ, Qin, P-Y, Gong, S-X & Mittra, R 2015, 'A Reconfigurable Partially Reflective Surface (PRS) Antenna for Beam Steering', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 63, no. 6, pp. 2387-2395.
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The design of a novel partially reflective surface (PRS) antenna with the capability of beam steering is presented in this paper. The beam steering is realized by employing a reconfigurable PRS structure to achieve a changeable reflection phase as well as using a phased array as the source to excite the PRS antenna. A prototype antenna including the biasing network is fabricated and measured. It achieves a consistent beam steering from -15 degrees to 15 degrees with respect to the broadside direction across an overlapped frequency range from 5.5 to 5.7 GHz with measured realized gains over 12 dBi. Good agreement between the simulated and measured results for the input reflection coefficients and radiation patterns is achieved, which validates the feasibility of the design principle. Compared with other beam steering PRS antennas, the proposed one enables a larger beam steering angle with comparable gains, requires a simpler biasing network, and is more compact.
Jiang, H, Wang, J, Dong, Y & Lu, H 2015, 'Comprehensive assessment of wind resources and the low-carbon economy: An empirical study in the Alxa and Xilin Gol Leagues of inner Mongolia, China', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 50, pp. 1304-1319.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Due to atmospheric pollution from fossil fuels, the reduction of wind turbine costs, and the rise of the low-carbon economy, wind energy conversion systems have become one of the most significant forms of new energy in China. Therefore, to reduce investment risk and maximize profits, it is necessary to assess wind resources before building large wind farms. This paper develops a comprehensive system containing four steps to evaluate the potential of wind resources at two sites in Xilin Gol League and at additional two sites in Alxa League of Inner Mongolia, China: (1) By calculating the total scores of three indexes, including the effective wind power density (EWPD), wind available time (WAT) and population density (PD), an indexes method is applied to assess the theoretical wind energy potential from 2001 to 2010. (2) To judge the fluctuations in the wind speed, the Fisher optimal partition method and the Jonckheere-Terpstra test are used to analyze the changes in the average monthly and yearly wind speeds from 2001 to 2010. (3) Three probability density functions, i.e., Weibull, Gamma and Lognormal, are used to assess the wind speed frequency distribution in 2010. To enhance the evaluation accuracy, three intelligent optimization parameter estimation algorithms, i.e., the particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), differential evolution algorithm (DE) and ant colony algorithm (ACO), are used to estimate the parameters of these distributions. (4) It is helpful to analyze the wind characteristics when assessing wind resources and selecting wind turbines. Therefore, the optimal frequency distribution based on the best parameter estimation method can be chosen to calculate the wind power density, the most probable wind speed and the wind speed carrying the maximum energy. The experimental results show that Site 1 and Site 4 are more suitable for large wind farms than Site 2 or Site 3.
Jiang, J, Wen, S, Yu, S, Xiang, Y & Zhou, W 2015, 'K-Center: An Approach on the Multi-Source Identification of Information Diffusion', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INFORMATION FORENSICS AND SECURITY, vol. 10, no. 12, pp. 2616-2626.
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Jiang, P, Ma, X & Liu, F 2015, 'A New Hybrid Model Based on Data Preprocessing and an Intelligent Optimization Algorithm for Electrical Power System Forecasting', Mathematical Problems in Engineering, vol. 2015, pp. 1-17.
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The establishment of electrical power system cannot only benefit the reasonable distribution and management in energy resources, but also satisfy the increasing demand for electricity. The electrical power system construction is often a pivotal part in the national and regional economic development plan. This paper constructs a hybrid model, known as the E-MFA-BP model, that can forecast indices in the electrical power system, including wind speed, electrical load, and electricity price. Firstly, the ensemble empirical mode decomposition can be applied to eliminate the noise of original time series data. After data preprocessing, the back propagation neural network model is applied to carry out the forecasting. Owing to the instability of its structure, the modified firefly algorithm is employed to optimize the weight and threshold values of back propagation to obtain a hybrid model with higher forecasting quality. Three experiments are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the model. Through comparison with other traditional well-known forecasting models, and models optimized by other optimization algorithms, the experimental results demonstrate that the hybrid model has the best forecasting performance.
Jiang, X, Wang, J, Li, Y, Li, J & Yao, J 2015, 'Energy harvesting for powering wireless sensor networks in low-frequency and large-force environments', Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part C: Journal of Mechanical Engineering Science, vol. 229, no. 11, pp. 1953-1964.
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Over the past few decades, wireless sensor networks have been widely used in the field of structure health monitoring of civil, mechanical, and aerospace systems. Currently, most wireless sensor networks are battery powered and it is costly and unsustainable for maintenance because of the requirement for frequent battery replacements. As an attempt to address such issue, this paper theoretically and experimentally studies a compression-based piezoelectric energy harvester, which is suitable for the low-frequency and large-force working environments, such as in civil and transportation infrastructure applications. The proposed energy harvester employs the piezoelectric structure constructed in multilayer stack configuration to convert ambient vibrations into electrical energy. Based on the linear theory of piezoelectricity, the two-degree-of-freedom electromechanical models of the proposed energy harvester were developed to characterize its performance in generating electrical energy under external excitations. Exact closed-form expressions of the electromechanical models have been derived to analyze the maximum harvested power and the optimal resistance. The theoretical analyses were validated through several experiments for a test prototype under harmonic excitations. The test results exhibit very good agreement with the analytical analyses and numerical simulations for a range of resistive loads and input excitation levels.
Jiang, Z, Tijing, LD, Amarjargal, A, Park, CH, An, K-J, Shon, HK & Kim, CS 2015, 'Removal of oil from water using magnetic bicomponent composite nanofibers fabricated by electrospinning', Composites Part B: Engineering, vol. 77, pp. 311-318.
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Jin, D, Gabrys, B & Dang, J 2015, 'Combined node and link partitions method for finding overlapping communities in complex networks', Scientific Reports, vol. 5, no. 1, p. 8600.
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AbstractCommunity detection in complex networks is a fundamental data analysis task in various domains and how to effectively find overlapping communities in real applications is still a challenge. In this work, we propose a new unified model and method for finding the best overlapping communities on the basis of the associated node and link partitions derived from the same framework. Specifically, we first describe a unified model that accommodates node and link communities (partitions) together and then present a nonnegative matrix factorization method to learn the parameters of the model. Thereafter, we infer the overlapping communities based on the derived node and link communities, i.e., determine each overlapped community between the corresponding node and link community with a greedy optimization of a local community function conductance. Finally, we introduce a model selection method based on consensus clustering to determine the number of communities. We have evaluated our method on both synthetic and real-world networks with ground-truths and compared it with seven state-of-the-art methods. The experimental results demonstrate the superior performance of our method over the competing ones in detecting overlapping communities for all analysed data sets. Improved performance is particularly pronounced in cases of more complicated networked community structures.
Jin, P, Wang, X, Wang, X, Ngo, HH & Jin, X 2015, 'A new step aeration approach towards the improvement of nitrogen removal in a full scale Carrousel oxidation ditch', Bioresource Technology, vol. 198, pp. 23-30.
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Jing, D, Bhadri, VA, Beck, D, Thoms, JAI, Yakob, NA, Wong, JWH, Knezevic, K, Pimanda, JE & Lock, RB 2015, 'Opposing regulation of BIM and BCL2 controls glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia cells', BLOOD, vol. 125, no. 2, pp. 273-283.
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Jing, T, Ramji, R, Warkiani, ME, Han, J, Lim, CT & Chen, C-H 2015, 'Jetting microfluidics with size-sorting capability for single-cell protease detection', Biosensors and Bioelectronics, vol. 66, pp. 19-23.
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Johnston, A 2015, 'Conversational Interaction in Interactive Dance Works', Leonardo, vol. 48, no. 3, pp. 296-297.
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This paper describes an interactive dance/physical theatre work entitled Encoded, which made use of motion capture techniques and real-time fluid simulations to create systems intended to support, stimulate and augment live performance. Preliminary findings from a qualitative study of performers’ experiences with the system raise a number of issues, including the challenges of creating theatrical meaning with interactive systems, using Contact Improvisation as a metaphor for engaging creative systems, and the impact that large-scale projections can have on performers’ engagement.
Jonáš, A, McGloin, D & Kiraz, A 2015, 'Droplet Lasers', Optics and Photonics News, vol. 26, no. 5, pp. 36-36.
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Junankar, S, Baker, LA, Roden, DL, Nair, R, Elsworth, B, Gallego-Ortega, D, Lacaze, P, Cazet, A, Nikolic, I, Teo, WS, Yang, J, McFarland, A, Harvey, K, Naylor, MJ, Lakhani, SR, Simpson, PT, Raghavendra, A, Saunus, J, Madore, J, Kaplan, W, Ormandy, C, Millar, EKA, O’Toole, S, Yun, K & Swarbrick, A 2015, 'ID4 controls mammary stem cells and marks breast cancers with a stem cell-like phenotype', Nature Communications, vol. 6, no. 1.
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Kamaleswaran, R, Wehbe, RR, Edward Pugh, J, Nacke, L, McGregor, C & James, A 2015, 'Collaborative multi-touch clinical handover system for the neonatal intensive care unit', Electronic Journal of Health Informatics, vol. 9, no. 1.
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Background: A critically ill infant admitted to a neonatal intensive care unit requires complex, critical, and coordinated care performed by multidisciplinary healthcare teams. Since the infant's care is not provided by a single, individual physician during the infant's hospital stay, clinical handover is essential to enable the transfer of health information between physicians involved in the infant's care. Objective: Handover at present is largely conducted in an informal and ad hoc way. A study of clinical handover is required to inform the development of automated intelligent systems that facilitate communication and collaboration between critical care health providers. Methods: A qualitative study in a quaternary neonatal intensive care unit, at The Hospital for Sick Children was undertaken to understand clinical handover and derive usability requirements. This is then used to inform a high level design of a multi-touch tabletop application for handover the design was then evaluated against senior neonatologists and neonatal fellows using rapid prototyping methods. Results: The results of the qualitative study showed that an effective handover application should at minimum include: tight integration with workflow and the physical environment, intuitive and simplicity, and minimalistic design following the 'less is more' philosophy. Conclusion: There is a need to optimize handover such that the information transferred is standardized, and the loss of information and/or misinformation is minimized. We argue that natural user interface design employed in the proposed design will result in improved care and less information loss during clinical handover.
Kariem, H, Pastrama, M-I, Roohani-Esfahani, SI, Pivonka, P, Zreiqat, H & Hellmich, C 2015, 'Micro-poro-elasticity of baghdadite-based bone tissue engineering scaffolds: A unifying approach based on ultrasonics, nanoindentation, and homogenization theory', Materials Science and Engineering: C, vol. 46, pp. 553-564.
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Karim, MR, Rahman, BMA, Azabi, YO, Agrawal, A & Agrawal, GP 2015, 'Ultrabroadband mid-infrared supercontinuum generation through dispersion engineering of chalcogenide microstructured fibers', JOURNAL OF THE OPTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA B-OPTICAL PHYSICS, vol. 32, no. 11, pp. 2343-2351.
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Karimi, F & Khalilpour, R 2015, 'Evolution of carbon capture and storage research: Trends of international collaborations and knowledge maps', International Journal of Greenhouse Gas Control, vol. 37, pp. 362-376.
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Karimi, F, Poo, DCC & Tan, YM 2015, 'Clinical information systems end user satisfaction: The expectations and needs congruencies effects', Journal of Biomedical Informatics, vol. 53, pp. 342-354.
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Karmokar, DK & Esselle, KP 2015, 'Periodic U-Slot-Loaded Dual-Band Half-Width Microstrip Leaky-Wave Antennas for Forward and Backward Beam Scanning', IEEE Transactions on Antennas and Propagation, vol. 63, no. 12, pp. 5372-5381.
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Karmokar, DK, Esselle, KP & Bird, TS 2015, 'An Array of Half-Width Microstrip Leaky-Wave Antennas Radiating on Boresight', IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters, vol. 14, pp. 112-114.
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Kassir, A, Fitch, R & Sukkarieh, S 2015, 'Communication-aware information gathering with dynamic information flow', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ROBOTICS RESEARCH, vol. 34, no. 2, pp. 173-200.
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© The Author(s) 2014. We are interested in the problem of how to improve estimation in multi-robot information gathering systems by actively controlling the rate of communication between robots. Communication is essential in such systems for decentralized data fusion and decision-making, but wireless networks impose capacity constraints that are frequently overlooked. In order to make efficient use of available capacity, it is necessary to consider a fundamental trade-off between communication cost, computation cost and information value. We introduce a new problem, dynamic information flow, that formalizes this trade-off in terms of decentralized constrained optimization. We propose algorithms that dynamically adjust the data rate of each communication link to maximize an information gain metric subject to constraints on communication and computation resources. The metric is balanced against the communication resources required to transmit data and the computation cost of processing sensor data to form observations. The optimization process selectively routes raw sensor data or processed observation data to zero, one or many robots. Our algorithms therefore allow large systems with many different types of sensors and computational resources to maximize information gain performance while satisfying realistic communication constraints. We also present experimental results with multiple ground robots and multiple sensor types that demonstrate the benefit of dynamic information flow in comparison to simpler bandwidth-limiting methods.
Katz, A, McDonagh, A, Tijing, L & Shon, HK 2015, 'Fouling and Inactivation of Titanium Dioxide-Based Photocatalytic Systems', Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 45, no. 17, pp. 1880-1915.
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Titanium dioxide is an effective photocatalyst for the breakdown of many environmental contaminants. The complex mixtures that can occur in water matrices can significantly affect the breakdown of the contaminants in water by titanium dioxide (TiO2). The authors discuss a wide variety of foulants and inhibitors of photocatalytic TiO2 systems and review different methods that can be effective for their fouling prevention. Approaches to regenerate a fouled or contaminated TiO2 catalysts are explored and the effect of substrates on immobilized titanium dioxide is also reviewed.
Keam, S & Hutvagner, G 2015, 'tRNA-Derived Fragments (tRFs): Emerging New Roles for an Ancient RNA in the Regulation of Gene Expression', Life, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 1638-1651.
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This review will summarise the recent discoveries and current state of research on short noncoding RNAs derived from tRNAs—known as tRNA-derived fragments (tRFs). It will describe the features of the known subtypes of these RNAs; including sequence characteristics, protein interactors, expression characteristics, biogenesis, and similarity to canonical miRNA pathways. Also their role in regulating gene expression; including mediating translational suppression, will be discussed. We also highlight their potential use as biomarkers, functions in gene regulation and links to disease. Finally, this review will speculate as to the origin and rationale for the conservation of this novel class of noncoding RNAs amongst both prokaryotes and eukaryotes.
Keepanasseril, A, Bagga, R, Saha, SC, Dey, P, Gainder, S & Dhaliwal, LK 2015, 'Primary fallopian tube transitional cell carcinoma', Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, vol. 35, no. 3, pp. 324-325.
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Kelly, A 2015, 'Intimacy and emotional labour in academic development', International Journal for Academic Development, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 93-104.
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© 2015, © 2015 Taylor & Francis. The affective dimensions of intimacy and emotional labour in academic development are explored utilising two methodological resources: autoethnography and narrative practice. An excerpt from the author’s reflective professional journal infused with affect and emotion is analysed utilising theories of intimacy in modernity, emotion work, and professional intimacy. The journal excerpt is ‘restoried’ to produce narrative lines that provide insight into the journal entry. The article concludes by proposing a ‘pedagogy of intimacy’ as an analytical space that values both skill and care.
Kelly, R & Sheng, D 2015, 'Numerical evaluation of clay disturbance during blade penetration in the flat dilatometer test', Géotechnique Letters, vol. 5, no. July–September, pp. 91-95.
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Kemp, M & Xu, RYD 2015, 'Geometrically-constrained balloon fitting for multiple connected ellipses', Pattern Recognition, vol. 48, no. 7, pp. 2198-2208.
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Kennedy, MJ, Gandomi, AH & Miller, CM 2015, 'Coagulation modeling using artificial neural networks to predict both turbidity and DOM-PARAFAC component removal', Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 2829-2838.
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In this study, four different neural network models were evaluated for predicting both turbidity and dissolved organic matter (DOM) removal during the coagulation process at the Akron Water Treatment Plant (Akron, Ohio, USA). DOM was monitored and characterized using fluorescence spectroscopy and parallel factor (PARAFAC) analysis, building upon previous research which identified three unique fluorescence components (C1, C2, and C3). Neural network models were built using operational data to predict each of the fluorescence components and turbidity after coagulation based on variable raw water quality and chemical doses. Correlation coefficients between measured and model predicted values for the final turbidity, C1, C2, and C3 models on an unseen test data set were 0.91, 0.95, 0.97, and 0.51, respectively. The predictive capability of the top performing model for each parameter was evaluated using parametric analysis, external validation criteria, and the absolute relative error distribution. Results suggest that the models for settled turbidity and the three settled component scores are valid and can be used to predict the removal of individual fractions of DOM (as measured by PARAFAC components) as a function of chemical dose and raw water quality, providing the water plant the ability to simultaneously manage two key water quality treatment objectives.
Khabbaz, H 2015, 'ANCHORED WALL DESIGN: COMPARING THE GLOBAL AND PARTIAL FACTORS OF SAFETY INCORPORATING THE AUSTRALIAN STANDARDS', International Journal of Geomate, vol. 9, no. 1, pp. 1395-1402.
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© 2015, International Journal of GEOMATE. A versatile and user-friendly model has been developed for evaluating the factor of safety of anchored sheet-pile structures, using both global factors of safety (GFS) and partial factors of safety (PFS) methods, abiding AS 4678 standard, an Australian standard for retaining wall design. The developed model is aimed to determine the following features: (i) depth of embedment, (ii) total wall height for determining the amount of material required, (iii) the length of anchor, (iv) the anchor force and (v) the maximum moment acting on the sheet-pile wall. Key findings are highlighted based on the design calculations. This study incorporates different design scenarios including layered soil, line loads and uniformly distributed surcharge loads to draw comparisons between the GFS and PFS methods. Many examples are used to validate the outputs of the program. The results indicate that the PFS method is preferred for design strength and safety aspects, whereas the GFS method is adopted for cost effectiveness and simplicity of design calculations. The limitations of the Australian standard AS 4678-2002 are discussed in order to identify the superiority of one method over another.
Khabbaz, H & Aung, Y 2015, 'ANCHORED WALL DESIGN: COMPARING THE GLOBAL AND PARTIAL FACTORS OF SAFETY INCORPORATING THE AUSTRALIAN STANDARDS', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOMATE, vol. 9, no. 17, pp. 1395-1402.
Khalilpour, R & Vassallo, A 2015, 'Leaving the grid: An ambition or a real choice?', vol. 82, no. C, pp. 207-221.
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The recent rapid decline in PV prices has brought grid parity, or near grid parity for PV in many countries. This, together with an expectation of a similar reduction for battery prices has prompted a new wave of social and academic discussions about the possibility of installing PV–battery systems and “leaving the grid” or “living off-grid”. This, if uncontrolled, has been termed the “death spiral” for utility companies.
Khalilpour, R & Vassallo, A 2015, 'Leaving the grid: An ambition or a real choice?', Energy Policy, vol. 82, pp. 207-221.
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Khalilpour, R, Mumford, K, Zhai, H, Abbas, A, Stevens, G & Rubin, ES 2015, 'Membrane-based carbon capture from flue gas: a review', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 103, pp. 286-300.
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Khan, MH, Huang, Z, Xiao, F, Casillas, G, Chen, Z, Molino, PJ & Liu, HK 2015, 'Erratum: Synthesis of Large and Few Atomic Layers of Hexagonal Boron Nitride on Melted Copper', Scientific Reports, vol. 5, no. 1.
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Khan, MH, Huang, Z, Xiao, F, Casillas, G, Chen, Z, Molino, PJ & Liu, HK 2015, 'Synthesis of Large and Few Atomic Layers of Hexagonal Boron Nitride on Melted Copper', Scientific Reports, vol. 5, no. 1.
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Khan, MI & kamal, MS 2015, 'Performance evaluation of Warshall algorithm and dynamic programming for Markov chain in local sequence alignment', Interdisciplinary Sciences: Computational Life Sciences, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 78-81.
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Khazaei, H, McGregor, C, Eklund, JM & El-Khatib, K 2015, 'Real-Time and Retrospective Health-Analytics-as-a-Service: A Novel Framework', JMIR Medical Informatics, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. e36-e36.
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Background: Analytics-as-a-service (AaaS) is one of the latest provisions emerging from the cloud services family. Utilizing this paradigm of computing in health informatics will benefit patients, care providers, and governments significantly. This work is a novel approach to realize health analytics as services in critical care units in particular. Objective: To design, implement, evaluate, and deploy an extendable big-data compatible framework for health-analytics-as-a-service that offers both real-time and retrospective analysis. Methods: We present a novel framework that can realize health data analytics-as-a-service. The framework is flexible and configurable for different scenarios by utilizing the latest technologies and best practices for data acquisition, transformation, storage, analytics, knowledge extraction, and visualization. We have instantiated the proposed method, through the Artemis project, that is, a customization of the framework for live monitoring and retrospective research on premature babies and ill term infants in neonatal intensive care units (NICUs). Results: We demonstrated the proposed framework in this paper for monitoring NICUs and refer to it as the Artemis-In-Cloud (Artemis-IC) project. A pilot of Artemis has been deployed in the SickKids hospital NICU. By infusing the output of this pilot set up to an analytical model, we predict important performance measures for the final deployment of Artemis-IC. This process can be carried out for other hospitals following the same steps with minimal effort. SickKids' NICU has 36 beds and can classify the patients generally into 5 different types including surgical and premature babies. The arrival rate is estimated as 4.5 patients per day, and the average length of stay was calculated as 16 days. Mean number of medical monitoring algorithms per patient is 9, which renders 311 live algorithms for the whole NICU running on the framework. The memory and computation power required for Artemis-I...
Khazaei, H, Mench-Bressan, N, McGregor, C & Pugh, JE 2015, 'Health Informatics for Neonatal Intensive Care Units: An Analytical Modeling Perspective', IEEE Journal of Translational Engineering in Health and Medicine, vol. 3, pp. 1-9.
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The effective use of data within intensive care units (ICUs) has great potential to create new cloud-based health analytics solutions for disease prevention or earlier condition onset detection. The Artemis project aims to achieve the above goals in the area of neonatal ICUs (NICU). In this paper, we proposed an analytical model for the Artemis cloud project which will be deployed at McMaster Children's Hospital in Hamilton. We collect not only physiological data but also the infusion pumps data that are attached to NICU beds. Using the proposed analytical model, we predict the amount of storage, memory, and computation power required for the system. Capacity planning and tradeoff analysis would be more accurate and systematic by applying the proposed analytical model in this paper. Numerical results are obtained using real inputs acquired from McMaster Children's Hospital and a pilot deployment of the system at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto.
Khezri, N, Mohamad, H, HajiHassani, M & Fatahi, B 2015, 'The stability of shallow circular tunnels in soil considering variations in cohesion with depth', Tunnelling and Underground Space Technology, vol. 49, pp. 230-240.
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Khoo, BL, Lee, SC, Kumar, P, Tan, TZ, Warkiani, ME, Ow, SGW, Nandi, S, Lim, CT & Thiery, JP 2015, 'Short-term expansion of breast circulating cancer cells predicts response to anti-cancer therapy', Oncotarget, vol. 6, no. 17, pp. 15578-15593.
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Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are considered as surrogate markers for prognosticating and evaluating patient treatment responses. Here, 226 blood samples from 92 patients with breast cancer, including patients with newly diagnosed or metastatic refractory cancer, and 16 blood samples from healthy subjects were cultured in laser-ablated microwells. Clusters containing an increasing number of cytokeratin-positive (CK+) cells appeared after 2 weeks, while most blood cells disappeared with time. Cultures were heterogeneous and exhibited two distinct sub-populations of cells: 'Small' (≤ 25 μm; high nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio; CD45-) cells, comprising CTCs, and 'Large' (> 25 μm; low nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio; CD68+ or CD56+) cells, corresponding to macrophage and natural killer-like cells. The Small cell fraction also showed copy number increases in six target genes (FGFR1, Myc, CCND1, HER2, TOP2A and ZNF217) associated with breast cancer. These expanded CTCs exhibited different proportions of epithelial-mesenchymal phenotypes and were transferable for further expansion as spheroids in serum-free suspension or 3D cultures. Cluster formation was affected by the presence and duration of systemic therapy, and its persistence may reflect therapeutic resistance. This novel and advanced method estimates CTC clonal heterogeneity and can predict, within a relatively short time frame, patient responses to therapy.
Khorsandnia, N & Crews, K 2015, 'Application of Quasi-Brittle Material Model for Analysis of Timber Members', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 99-115.
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Khorsandnia, N & Crews, K 2015, 'Application of quasi-brittle material model for analysis of timber members', Australian Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 99-115.
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Khorsandnia, N, Schänzlin, J, Valipour, H & Crews, K 2015, 'Coupled finite element-finite difference formulation for long-term analysis of timber–concrete composite structures', Engineering Structures, vol. 96, pp. 139-152.
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Khoury, S & Tran, N 2015, 'Circulating microRNAs: potential biomarkers for common malignancies', Biomarkers in Medicine, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 131-151.
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MicroRNAs (miRNAs) belong to a class of small noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), which regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level. They are approximately 22 nucleotide sequences in length and have been predicted to control expression of up to 30–60% of all protein-coding genes in mammals. Considering this wide involvement in gene control, aberrant miRNA expression has a strong association with the presence and progression of a disease, hence generating much anticipation in using miRNAs as biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of human cancers. The majority of these miRNAs are intracellular, but recently they have been discovered in bodily fluids. This review will provide an insight into these circulatory miRNA molecules and discuss their potential as cancer biomarkers.
Khruahong, S, Kong, X & Hoang, D 2015, 'Ontology Design for Thailand Travel Industry', International Journal of Knowledge Engineering, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 191-196.
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Tourism industry plays a crucial role in the economics growth in countries of South East Asia and hence the demand for rich local tourist information for visitors. In these countries, there are unique deciding impact factors to visitor journey such as constraints in culture, laws, and festivals. Such special information has not been available or implemented in general search engines so far. In this paper, we design an ontology for Thai travel industry to support an intelligent finding of these local events and their constraints using semantic web. The primary contribution of this paper is a new approach to design ontology for Thailand travel industry on both general information and specific dynamic local information using Domain Ontology Graph (DOG) and location based services. As a result, this ontology design will be applied to an intelligent searching for making decision of tourists. This ontology design will be used in semantic tourism applications in the future.
Kianfar, K, Indraratna, B, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Leroueil, S 2015, 'Radial consolidation response upon the application and removal of vacuum and fill loading', CANADIAN GEOTECHNICAL JOURNAL, vol. 52, no. 12, pp. 2156-2162.
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Kim, DI, Kim, J, Shon, HK & Hong, S 2015, 'Pressure retarded osmosis (PRO) for integrating seawater desalination and wastewater reclamation: Energy consumption and fouling', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 483, pp. 34-41.
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Kim, J, Jeong, K, Park, M, Shon, H & Kim, J 2015, 'Recent Advances in Osmotic Energy Generation via Pressure-Retarded Osmosis (PRO): A Review', Energies, vol. 8, no. 10, pp. 11821-11845.
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Global energy consumption has been highly dependent on fossil fuels which cause severe climate change and, therefore, the exploration of new technologies to produce effective renewable energy plays an important role in the world. Pressure-retarded osmosis (PRO) is one of the promising candidates to reduce the reliance on fossil fuels by harnessing energy from the salinity gradient between seawater and fresh water. In PRO, water is transported though a semi-permeable membrane from a low-concentrated feed solution to a high-concentrated draw solution. The increased volumetric water flow then runs a hydro-turbine to generate power. PRO technology has rapidly improved in recent years; however, the commercial-scale PRO plant is yet to be developed. In this context, recent developments on the PRO process are reviewed in terms of mathematical models, membrane modules, process designs, numerical works, and fouling and cleaning. In addition, the research requirements to accelerate PRO commercialization are discussed. It is expected that this article can help comprehensively understand the PRO process and thereby provide essential information to activate further research and development.
Kim, JE, Phuntsho, S, Lotfi, F & Shon, HK 2015, 'Investigation of pilot-scale 8040 FO membrane module under different operating conditions for brackish water desalination', DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, vol. 53, no. 10, pp. 2782-2791.
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© 2014, © 2014 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved. Two spiral wound forward osmosis membrane modules with different spacer designs (corrugated spacer [CS] and medium spacer [MS]) were investigated for the fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis (FO) desalination of brackish groundwater (BGW) at a pilot-scale level. This study mainly focused on examining the influence of various operating conditions such as feed flow rate, total dissolved solids (TDS) concentration of the BGW feed, and draw solution (DS) concentrations using ammonium sulfate ((NH4)2SO4, SOA) on the performance of two membrane modules. The feed flow rate played a positive role in the average water flux of the pilot-scale FO membrane module due to enhanced mass transfer coefficient across the membrane surface. Feed TDS and DS concentrations also played a significant role in both FO membrane modules because they are directly related to the osmotic driving force and membrane fouling tendency. CS module performed slightly better than MS module during all experiments due to probably enhanced mass transfer and lower fouling propensity associated with the CS. Besides, CS spacer provides larger channel space that can accommodate larger volumes of DS, and hence, could maintain higher DS concentration. However, the extent of dilution for the CS module is slightly lower.
Kim, Y, Lee, S, Shon, HK & Hong, S 2015, 'Organic fouling mechanisms in forward osmosis membrane process under elevated feed and draw solution temperatures', Desalination, vol. 355, pp. 169-177.
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© 2014. Organic fouling mechanisms in forward osmosis (FO) were systematically investigated at varying feed and draw temperatures. The effect of temperature variation on FO performance was first examined without foulants. When draw temperature increased, internal concentration polarization (ICP) decreased, which caused water flux to increase. Water flux was also improved with increasing feed temperature due to water permeability increased by decreased viscosity. Thus it can be deduced that water flux enhancement was induced by combined effects of reduced ICP and enhanced water permeability. A series of fouling experiments was then elaborately designed to fundamentally elucidate organic fouling mechanisms. Results demonstrated that organic fouling was significantly influenced by convective and diffusive organic transports induced by increasing temperature. Faster flux decline was observed with increasing draw temperature, primarily due to increased permeation drag. When increasing feed temperature, FO membrane was less fouled, attributing to enhanced organic back diffusion from membrane surface as well as increased organic solubility. Furthermore, fouling became more severe above certain critical flux at which organic convection by permeation drag dominated fouling mechanism as seen with escalating both temperatures simultaneously. Findings from this study can be utilized beneficially when FO temperature may be varied and needs to be optimized.
Kitwitee, P, Limwattananon, S, Limwattananon, C, Waleekachonlert, O, Ratanachotpanich, T, Phimphilai, M, Nguyen, TV & Pongchaiyakul, C 2015, 'Metformin for the treatment of gestational diabetes: An updated meta-analysis', Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice, vol. 109, no. 3, pp. 521-532.
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Klein, MT, Kalam, M, Trout, K, Fowler, N & Terry, M 2015, 'Mescaline Concentrations in Three Principal Tissues ofLophophora williamsii(Cactaceae): Implications for Sustainable Harvesting Practices', Haseltonia, vol. 20, pp. 34-42.
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Kong, J-J, Yue, Q-Y, Zhao, P, Gao, B-Y, Li, Q, Wang, Y, Ngo, HH & Guo, W-S 2015, 'Comparative study on microstructure and surface properties of keratin- and lignocellulosic-based activated carbons', Fuel Processing Technology, vol. 140, pp. 67-75.
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Kong, Y, Zhang, M & Ye, D 2015, 'A negotiation‐based method for task allocation with time constraints in open grid environments', Concurrency and Computation: Practice and Experience, vol. 27, no. 3, pp. 735-761.
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SummaryThis paper addresses the task allocation problem in an open, dynamic grid environments and service‐oriented environments. In such environments, both grid/service providers and consumers can be modelled as intelligent agents. These agents can leave and enter the environment freely at any time. Task allocation under time constraints becomes a challenging issue in such environments because it is difficult to apply a central controller during the allocation process due to the openness and dynamism of the environments. This paper proposes a negotiation‐based method for task allocation under time constraints in an open, dynamic grid environment, where both consumer and provider agents can freely enter or leave the environment. In this method, there is no central controller available, and agents negotiate with each other for task allocation based only on local views. The experimental results show that the proposed method can outperform the current methods in terms of the success rate of task allocation and the total profit obtained from the allocated tasks by agents under different time constraints. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Kong, Y, Zhang, M, Ye, D & Luo, X 2015, 'RETRACTED CHAPTER: A Negotiation Method for Task Allocation with Time Constraints in Open Grid Environments', Studies in Computational Intelligence, vol. 596, pp. 19-36.
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Konthesingha, KMC, Stewart, MG, Ryan, P, Ginger, J & Henderson, D 2015, 'Reliability based vulnerability modelling of metal-clad industrial buildings to extreme wind loading for cyclonic regions', Journal of Wind Engineering and Industrial Aerodynamics, vol. 147, pp. 176-185.
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This paper presents an approach for developing a vulnerability model to predict the probability and extent of damage to metal-clad industrial buildings due to extreme wind loading. Structural reliability-based methods that describe the spatially distributed wind load and component/connection strengths probabilistically are used in the model. Two failure mechanisms are considered for the roof envelop, namely; failure of roof cladding, and purlin failure. Interdependency between the failure mechanisms, load sharing effects due to connection/component failure, and internal pressure variation due to roof cladding failure are also considered. The industrial building examined in the study is a hot rolled structural steel, metal-clad, gable-end building designed for cyclonic regions in Australia. The likelihood and extent of roof damage for this buildings is presented using wind vulnerability curves obtained from the probabilistic model. It is found that internal pressure (e.g. an open door) and the use of cyclone washers has a significant effect on wind vulnerability. The utilisation of cyclone washers is found to reduce damage risks by over 70%.
Kouretzis, GP, Ansari, Y, Pineda, J, Kelly, R & Sheng, D 2015, 'Numerical evaluation of clay disturbance during blade penetration in the flat dilatometer test', Géotechnique Letters, vol. 5, no. 3, pp. 91-95.
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This paper presents a study on the amplification of horizontal soil stresses during flat dilatometer test (DMT) blade penetration based on three-dimensional total and effective stress numerical analyses, while considering stress–flow coupling and large deformations. The focus here is on saturated clays, and the effect of soil stress history on the horizontal stress index is discussed in detail. The obtained results appear to be in good agreement with published and new field data, leading to the proposal of two new expressions for estimating the overconsolidation ratio and the earth pressure coefficient at rest directly from flat dilatometer tests in estuarine clays.
Krause, M, Dackermann, U & Li, J 2015, 'Elastic wave modes for the assessment of structural timber: ultrasonic echo for building elements and guided waves for pole and pile structures', Journal of Civil Structural Health Monitoring, vol. 5, no. 2, pp. 221-249.
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© 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. This paper presents the state-of-the-art of using non-destructive testing (NDT) methods based on elastic waves for the condition assessment of structural timber. Two very promising approaches based on the propagation and reflections of elastic waves are described. While the first approach uses ultrasonic echoes for the testing of wooden building elements, the second approach uses guided waves (GW) for the testing of timber pole and pile structures. The basic principle behind both approaches is that elastic waves induced in a timber structure will propagate through its material until they encounter a change in stiffness, cross-sectional area or density, at which point they will reflect back. By measuring the wave echoes, it is possible to determine geometric properties of the tested structures such as the back wall of timber elements or the underground length of timber poles or piles. In addition, the internal state of the tested structures can be assessed since damage and defects such as rot, fungi or termite attacks will cause early reflections of the elastic waves as well as it can result in changes in wave velocity, wave attenuation and wave mode conversion. In the paper, the principles and theory of using elastic wave propagation for the assessment of wooden building elements and timber pole/pile structures are described. The state-of-the-art in testing equipment and procedures is presented and detailed examples are given on the practical application of both testing approaches. Recent encouraging developments of cutting edge research are presented along with challenges for future research.
Kueng, R & Ferrie, C 2015, 'Near-optimal quantum tomography: estimators and bounds', New J. Phys., vol. 17, p. 123013.
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We give bounds on the average fidelity achievable by any quantum stateestimator, which is arguably the most prominently used figure of merit inquantum state tomography. Moreover, these bounds can be computed online---thatis, while the experiment is running. We show numerically that these bounds arequite tight for relevant distributions of density matrices. We also show thatthe Bayesian mean estimator is ideal in the sense of performing close to thebound without requiring optimization. Our results hold for all finitedimensional quantum systems.
Kulkarni, R, Qiao, Y & Sun, X 2015, 'Any monotone property of 3-uniform hypergraphs is weakly evasive', Theoretical Computer Science, vol. 588, pp. 16-23.
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© 2014 Elsevier B.V. For a Boolean function f, let D(f) denote its deterministic decision tree complexity, i.e., minimum number of (adaptive) queries required in worst case in order to determine f. In a classic paper, Rivest and Vuillemin [11] show that any non-constant monotone property P:{0,1}(n2)→{0,1} of n-vertex graphs has D(P)=Ω(n2).We extend their result to 3-uniform hypergraphs. In particular, we show that any non-constant monotone property P:{0,1}(n3)→{0,1} of n-vertex 3-uniform hypergraphs has D(P)=Ω(n3).Our proof combines the combinatorial approach of Rivest and Vuillemin with the topological approach of Kahn, Saks, and Sturtevant [6]. Interestingly, our proof makes use of Vinogradov's Theorem (weak Goldbach Conjecture), inspired by its recent use by Babai et al. [1] in the context of the topological approach. Our work leaves the generalization to k-uniform hypergraphs as an intriguing open question.
Kunhikrishnan, A, Shon, HK, Bolan, NS, El Saliby, I & Vigneswaran, S 2015, 'Sources, Distribution, Environmental Fate, and Ecological Effects of Nanomaterials in Wastewater Streams', Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 277-318.
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© 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Engineered nanomaterials (ENM) are manufactured, as opposed to being an incidental by-product of combustion or a natural process, and they often have unique or novel properties that emerge from their small size. These materials are being used in an expanding array of consumer products and, like all technological developments, have both benefits and risks. As the use of ENM in consumer products becomes more common, the amount of these nanomaterials entering wastewater stream increases. Estimates of nanomaterials production are in the range of 500 and 50,000 tons per year for silver and titanium dioxide (TiO2) alone, respectively. Nanomaterials enter the wastewater stream during the production, usage, and disposal of nanomaterial-containing products. The predicted values of nanomaterials range from 0.003 (fullerenes) to 21 ng L-1 (nano-TiO2) for surface waters, and from 4 ng L-1 (fullerenes) to 4 g L-1 (nano-TiO2) for sewage treatment effluents. Therefore, investigating the fate of nanomaterials in wastewater streams is critical for risk assessment and pollution control. The authors aim first to identify the sources of nanomaterials reaching wastewater streams, then determine their occurrence and distribution, and finally discuss their fate in relation to human and ecological health, and environmental impact.
Kurian, JC 2015, 'Facebook use by the open access repository users', Online Information Review, vol. 39, no. 7, pp. 903-922.
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Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the type and implications of user-generated content posted by users of an open access institutional repository (DSpace) on Facebook.Design/methodology/approach– The identified user-generated content was organised into three categories: personal; professional; and social information. It encompassed all content from the members of the “DSpace” Facebook group, posted during the seven-year period (2007-2014). The posts were read and analysed to identify and categorise user-generated content posted by users to determine how Facebook is used by open access repository users.Findings– The results of analysis demonstrate the importance of social information posted by users over personal and professional information. Major types of user-generated content posted by users in the social information category were request, greetings, status-update, and announcement. Further, there has been a threefold increase in the number of user postings in the last two years (2013-2014), when posts were analysed over a seven-year period.Research limitations/implications– This study contributes to the theory on the implications eventuating from user-generated content posted by users of an open access institutional repository. An analysis of user-generated content identified in this study implies that users of DSpace open access repository are primarily using Facebook for information seeking, relationship building, and knowledge dissemination.Practical implications– By analysing the findi...
Kwok, N, Shi, H, Fang, G, Ha, Q, Yu, Y-H, Wu, T, Li, H & Nguyen, T 2015, 'Color image enhancement using correlated intensity and saturation adjustments', JOURNAL OF MODERN OPTICS, vol. 62, no. 13, pp. 1037-1047.
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© 2015 Taylor & Francis. The enhancement of digital color images needs to be performed in accordance with human perception in terms of hue, saturation, and intensity attributes instead of improving only the contrast. Two approaches were developed in this work, which use a correlated adjustment mechanism incorporating intensity and saturation attributes and provide contrast and saturation enhancements together with brightness consistency. In these algorithms, object edges are emphasized for contrast, and image saturation is increased by boosting the salient regions. Furthermore, intensity and saturation enhancements are carried out in a lattice structure where adjustments are made inter-related for better performance. Experiments were conducted with benchmark and real-world images. Results had shown improvements in image qualities both qualitatively and quantitatively.
La Fontaine, A, Gault, B, Breen, A, Stephenson, L, Ceguerra, AV, Yang, L, Dinh Nguyen, T, Zhang, J, Young, DJ & Cairney, JM 2015, 'Interpreting atom probe data from chromium oxide scales', Ultramicroscopy, vol. 159, pp. 354-359.
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Lagger, G, Sittarame, F, Gay, V, Chambouleyron, M, Lasserre-Moutet, A & Golay, A 2015, 'Diabète de type 2, peut-on en guérir ? « Que répondre à une personne chez qui on vient de découvrir fortuitement un diabète de type 2 avec une glycémie à deux reprises supérieure à 1,25g/l et une HbA1c à 6,7 %, et qui demande si elle peut guérir ? »', Médecine des Maladies Métaboliques, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 447-450.
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Lai, J, Dutkiewicz, E, Liu, RP & Vesilo, R 2015, 'Opportunistic Spectrum Access with Two Channel Sensing in Cognitive Radio Networks', IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 126-138.
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Lai, Q, Paskevicius, M, Sheppard, DA, Buckley, CE, Thornton, AW, Hill, MR, Gu, Q, Mao, J, Huang, Z, Liu, HK, Guo, Z, Banerjee, A, Chakraborty, S, Ahuja, R & Aguey‐Zinsou, K 2015, 'Hydrogen Storage Materials for Mobile and Stationary Applications: Current State of the Art', ChemSusChem, vol. 8, no. 17, pp. 2789-2825.
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AbstractOne of the limitations to the widespread use of hydrogen as an energy carrier is its storage in a safe and compact form. Herein, recent developments in effective high‐capacity hydrogen storage materials are reviewed, with a special emphasis on light compounds, including those based on organic porous structures, boron, nitrogen, and aluminum. These elements and their related compounds hold the promise of high, reversible, and practical hydrogen storage capacity for mobile applications, including vehicles and portable power equipment, but also for the large scale and distributed storage of energy for stationary applications. Current understanding of the fundamental principles that govern the interaction of hydrogen with these light compounds is summarized, as well as basic strategies to meet practical targets of hydrogen uptake and release. The limitation of these strategies and current understanding is also discussed and new directions proposed.
Lam, HK, Ekong, U, Xiao, B, Ouyang, G, Liu, H, Chan, KY & Ling, SH 2015, 'Variable weight neural networks and their applications on material surface and epilepsy seizure phase classifications', NEUROCOMPUTING, vol. 149, pp. 1177-1187.
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Lambertz, I, Kumps, C, Claeys, S, Lindner, S, Beckers, A, Janssens, E, Carter, DR, Cazes, A, Cheung, BB, De Mariano, M, De Bondt, A, De Brouwer, S, Delattre, O, Gibbons, J, Janoueix-Lerosey, I, Laureys, G, Liang, C, Marchall, GM, Porcu, M, Takita, J, Trujillo, DC, Van Den Wyngaert, I, Van Roy, N, Van Goethem, A, Van Maerken, T, Zabrocki, P, Cools, J, Schulte, JH, Vialard, J, Speleman, F & De Preter, K 2015, 'Upregulation of MAPK Negative Feedback Regulators and RET in Mutant ALK Neuroblastoma: Implications for Targeted Treatment', Clinical Cancer Research, vol. 21, no. 14, pp. 3327-3339.
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Abstract Purpose: Activating ALK mutations are present in almost 10% of primary neuroblastomas and mark patients for treatment with small-molecule ALK inhibitors in clinical trials. However, recent studies have shown that multiple mechanisms drive resistance to these molecular therapies. We anticipated that detailed mapping of the oncogenic ALK-driven signaling in neuroblastoma can aid to identify potential fragile nodes as additional targets for combination therapies. Experimental Design: To achieve this goal, transcriptome profiling was performed in neuroblastoma cell lines with the ALKF1174L or ALKR1275Q hotspot mutations, ALK amplification, or wild-type ALK following pharmacologic inhibition of ALK using four different compounds. Next, we performed cross-species genomic analyses to identify commonly transcriptionally perturbed genes in MYCN/ALKF1174L double transgenic versus MYCN transgenic mouse tumors as compared with the mutant ALK-driven transcriptome in human neuroblastomas. Results: A 77-gene ALK signature was established and successfully validated in primary neuroblastoma samples, in a neuroblastoma cell line with ALKF1174L and ALKR1275Q regulable overexpression constructs and in other ALKomas. In addition to the previously established PI3K/AKT/mTOR, MAPK/ERK, and MYC/MYCN signaling branches, we identified that mutant ALK drives a strong upregulation of MAPK negative feedback regulators and upregulates RET and RET-driven sympathetic neuronal markers of the cholinergic lineage. Conclusions: We provide important novel insights into the transcriptional consequences and the complexity of mutant ALK signaling in this aggressive pediatric tumor. The negative feedback loop of MAPK pathway inhibitors may affect novel ALK inhibition therapies, whereas mutant ALK induced RET signaling can offer novel opportunit...
Lammers, T & Golfmann, J 2015, 'Modular Product Design: reducing complexity, increasing efficacy', Performance, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 56-63.
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In a global business environment, the increasedindividuality of customer demands adds externalpressure for companies. On the other hand,growing competition creates the need forcost-cutting programs. The conflict betweenexternal variance and internal standardizationcan be solved by approaches such as modularproduct design. A proven four-phase approachthat enables the modularization of productarchitectures is examined in this article.
Law, Y, Ye, L, Wang, Q, Hu, S, Pijuan, M & Yuan, Z 2015, 'Producing free nitrous acid – A green and renewable biocidal agent – From anaerobic digester liquor', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 259, pp. 62-69.
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Lawson, J, Rasul, MG, Howard, P, Martin, F, Hadgraft, R & Jarman, R 2015, 'Getting it right: The case for supervisors assessing process in capstone projects', International Journal of Engineering Education, vol. 31, no. 6, pp. 1810-1818.
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Capstone projects represent the culmination of an undergraduate engineering degree and are typically the last checkpoint measure before students graduate and enter the engineering profession. In Australia there is a longstanding interest in and commitment to developing quality capstone experiences.Anational study into the supervision and assessment of capstone projects has determined that whilst there is relative consistency in terms of what project tasks are set and assessed, there is not comparable consistency in how these tasks or assignments are marked. Two interconnected areas of assessing process and the role of the supervisor in marking are identified as contentious. This paper presents some findings of a national case study and concludes that whilst further investigation is warranted, assessing process as well as project products is valuable as is the need for greater acceptance of project supervisors as capable of making informed, professional judgments when marking significant project work.
Le Thi My, H, Nguyen Thanh, B & Khuat Thanh, T 2015, 'Survey on Mutation-based Test Data Generation', International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering (IJECE), vol. 5, no. 5, pp. 1164-1164.
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<span>The critical activity of testing is the systematic selection of suitable test cases, which be able to reveal highly the faults. Therefore, mutation coverage is an effective criterion for generating test data. Since the test data generation process is very labor intensive, time-consuming and error-prone when done manually, the automation of this process is highly aspired. The researches about automatic test data generation contributed a set of tools, approaches, development and empirical results. In this paper, we will analyse and conduct a comprehensive survey on generating test data based on mutation. The paper also analyses the trends in this field.</span>
Le, TM, Fatahi, B & Khabbaz, H 2015, 'Numerical optimisation to obtain elastic viscoplastic model parameters for soft clay', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PLASTICITY, vol. 65, pp. 1-21.
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© 2014 Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. In this paper, a numerical optimisation procedure is presented to obtain non-linear elastic viscoplastic (EVP) model parameters adopting the available consolidation data. The Crank-Nicolson finite difference scheme is applied to solve the combination of coupled partial differential equations of the EVP model and the consolidation theory. Then, the model parameters are determined applying the trust-region reflective optimisation algorithm in conjunction with the finite difference solution. The proposed solution for the model parameter determination can utilise all available consolidation data during the dissipation of the excess pore water pressure to determine the required model parameters. Moreover, in order to include creep in the numerical predictions explicitly from the very first time steps, the reference time in the elastic viscoplastic model can readily be adopted as a unit of time. Results obtained from two sets of laboratory experiments adopting hydraulic consolidation (Rowe cells) on a soft soil are reported and discussed. The proposed numerical optimisation procedure is utilised to obtain the viscoplastic model parameters adopting the experimental results, while the settlement and pore water pressure predictions are compared with experimental results to evaluate the accuracy and reliability of the proposed numerical procedure. The predictions are in good agreement with the measurements, supporting the proposed numerical method as a practical tool to analyse the stress-strain behaviour of soft clay.
Le, TM, Fatahi, B, Disfani, M & Khabbaz, H 2015, 'Analyzing consolidation data to obtain elastic viscoplastic parameters of clay', GEOMECHANICS AND ENGINEERING, vol. 8, no. 4, pp. 559-594.
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© 2015 Techno-Press, Ltd. A nonlinear creep function incorporated into the elastic visco-plastic model may describe the long-term soil deformation more accurately. However, by applying the conventional procedure, there are challenges to determine the model parameters due to limitation of suitable data points. This paper presents a numerical solution to obtain several parameters simultaneously for a nonlinear elastic visco-plastic (EVP) model using the available consolidation data. The finite difference scheme using the Crank-Nicolson procedure is applied to solve a set of coupled partial differential equations of the time dependent strain and pore water pressure dissipation. The model parameters are determined by applying the algorithm of trust-region reflective optimisation in conjunction with the finite difference solution. The proposed method utilises all available consolidation data during dissipation of the excess pore water pressure to determine the required model parameters. Moreover, the reference time in the elastic visco-plastic model can readily be adopted as a unit of time; denoting creep is included in the numerical predictions explicitly from the very first time steps. In this paper, the settlement predictions of thick soft clay layers are presented and discussed to evaluate and compare the accuracy and reliability of the proposed method against the graphical procedure to obtain the model parameters. In addition, comparison of the available experimental results to the numerical predictions confirms the accuracy of the numerical procedure.
Le, TP, Shang, Z, Wang, L, Li, N, Vajjala Kesava, S, O’Connor, JW, Chang, Y, Bae, C, Zhu, C, Hexemer, A, Gomez, EW, Salleo, A, Hickner, MA & Gomez, ED 2015, 'Miscibility and Acid Strength Govern Contact Doping of Organic Photovoltaics with Strong Polyelectrolytes', Macromolecules, vol. 48, no. 15, pp. 5162-5171.
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Lee, J-S, Filatova, T, Ligmann-Zielinska, A, Hassani-Mahmooei, B, Stonedahl, F, Lorscheid, I, Voinov, A, Polhill, G, Sun, Z & Parker, DC 2015, 'The Complexities of Agent-Based Modeling Output Analysis', Journal of Artificial Societies and Social Simulation, vol. 18, no. 4.
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Lee, Y-C, Liu, J, Chuang, Y-L, Hsieh, M-H & Lee, R-K 2015, 'Passive $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric couplers without complex optical potentials', Phys. Rev. A, vol. 92, no. 5, pp. 053815-4.
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In addition to the implementation of parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$)-symmetricoptical systems by carefully and actively controlling the gain and loss, weshow that a $2\times 2$ $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric Hamiltonian has a unitarilyequivalent representation without complex optical potentials in the resultingoptical coupler. Through the Naimark dilation in operator algebra, passive$\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric couplers can thus be implemented with a refractiveindex of real values and asymmetric coupling coefficients. This opens up thepossibility to implement general $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric systems withstate-of-the-art asymmetric slab waveguides, dissimilar optical fibers, orcavities with chiral mirrors.
Lei, G, Liu, C, Guo, Y & Zhu, J 2015, 'Multidisciplinary Design Analysis and Optimization of a PM Transverse Flux Machine With Soft Magnetic Composite Core', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 51, no. 11, pp. 1-4.
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Lei, G, Liu, C, Zhu, J & Guo, Y 2015, 'Techniques for Multilevel Design Optimization of Permanent Magnet Motors', IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion, vol. 30, no. 4, pp. 1574-1584.
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Lei, G, Wang, T, Zhu, J, Guo, Y & Wang, S 2015, 'System-Level Design Optimization Method for Electrical Drive Systems—Robust Approach', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 62, no. 8, pp. 4702-4713.
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A system-level design optimization method under the framework of a deterministic approach was presented for electrical drive systems in our previous work, in which not only motors but also the integrated control schemes were designed and optimized to achieve good steady and dynamic performances. However, there are many unavoidable uncertainties (noise factors) in the industrial manufacturing process, such as material characteristics and manufacturing precision. These will result in big fluctuations for the product's reliability and quality in mass production, which are not investigated in the deterministic approach. Therefore, a robust approach based on the technique of design for six sigma is presented for the system-level design optimization of drive systems to improve the reliability and quality of products in batch production in this work. Meanwhile, two system-level optimization frameworks are presented for the proposed method, namely, single-level (only at the system level) and multilevel frameworks. Finally, a drive system is investigated as an example, and detailed results are presented and discussed. It can be found that the reliability and quality levels of the investigated drive system have been greatly increased by using the proposed robust approach.
Lemke, C, Budka, M & Gabrys, B 2015, 'Metalearning: a survey of trends and technologies', Artificial Intelligence Review, vol. 44, no. 1, pp. 117-130.
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Leung, D & Yu, N 2015, 'Maximum privacy without coherence, zero-error', Journal of Mathematical Physics, vol. 57, no. 9, p. 092202.
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We study the possible difference between the quantum and the privatecapacities of a quantum channel in the zero-error setting. For a family ofchannels introduced by arXiv:1312.4989, we demonstrate an extreme difference:the zero-error quantum capacity is zero, whereas the zero-error privatecapacity is maximum given the quantum output dimension.
Leyendekkers, JV & Shannon, AG 2015, 'The odd-number sequence: squares and sums', International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, vol. 46, no. 8, pp. 1222-1228.
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Leyendekkers, JV & Shannon, AG 2015, 'The structural relationships between Fibonacci and prime-generated odd-number sequences', Advanced Studies in Contemporary Mathematics (Kyungshang), vol. 25, no. 1, pp. 59-63.
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The prime-generated odd-number sequence Np = 2p-1,p prime, can yield some prime values for Np and these are used as indicators of Fibonacci Fp composites. This structural characteristic of integers yields a type of primality test which in turn enables composite Fp with factors of the form pk + 1 to be identified up top = 727.
Li, B, Guo, T, Zhu, X & Li, Z 2015, 'Reverse twin plant for efficient diagnosability testing and optimizing', Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence, vol. 38, pp. 131-137.
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Model-based diagnosis in discrete event systems (DESs) is a major research topic in failure diagnosis, where diagnosability plays an important role in the construction of the diagnosis engine. To improve the solution efficiency for diagnosability, this paper proposes novel techniques to solve the problems of testing and optimizing for diagnosability. We propose a new concept, reverse twin plant, which is generated backwards from the final states of the DESs so there is no need to generate a complete copy of the DES model to determine the diagnosability. Such a design makes our testing algorithm much faster than existing methods. An efficient optimizing algorithm, which makes a non-diagnosable system diagnosable, is also proposed in the paper by expanding the minimal observable space with operation on just a part of the DES model. Examples and theoretical studies demonstrate the performance of the proposed designs.
Li, B, Ye, L, Li, Z, Ma, Z & Kalhori, H 2015, 'Quantitative identification of delamination at different interfaces using guided wave signals in composite laminates', Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites, vol. 34, no. 18, pp. 1506-1525.
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This article presents the development of a quantitative method for identifying interfacial delamination in composite laminates. Splitting and merging occur as Lamb waves pass through the delamination. It is demonstrated from the dispersion curve of Lamb waves that the group velocities of A0 and S0 modes in the sub-laminates above and below the delamination area are different when the delamination interface is not at the thickness center of a symmetrical layup laminate. Changes in the time of flight (ToF) of A0 and S0 modes are caused by the parallel propagation of Lamb waves. Based on those changes in the ToF, delamination size can be evaluated even though the delamination location through the thickness is not pregiven. Numerical and experimental studies are conducted to assess this method. Continuous wavelet transform is applied to extract the ToF of A0 mode waves from the overlapped signals. Mode conversion is illustrated for the interaction of Lamb waves and delamination. The sensitivity and applicability of the proposed method are validated numerically and experimentally in two asymmetric layup composite laminates. The limitation of this method for symmetric layup composite laminates is analyzed and a potential improvement approach is further discussed.
Li, H, Jiang, Z, Wei, D, Gao, X, Xu, J & Zhang, X 2015, 'Surface asperity evolution and microstructure analysis of Al 6061T5 alloy in a quasi-static cold uniaxial planar compression (CUPC)', Applied Surface Science, vol. 347, pp. 193-201.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. In a quasi-static cold uniaxial planar compression, surface asperity evolution and microstructure analysis of Al 6061T5 alloy are carried out by employing Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) and Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD) methods. Strain rate affects the surface asperity evolution obviously. While lubrication can hinder the surface asperity flattening by constraining the surface localized deformation. Lubrication can accelerate the crystallization in CUPC process. It also impedes the activation of some orientation components by hindering the activation of related slip systems in light metal Al alloy.
Li, H, Jiang, Z, Wei, D, Xu, J, Zhang, X, Gong, D & Han, J 2015, 'Study on Surface Asperity Flattening in Cold Quasi-Static Uniaxial Planar Compression by Crystal Plasticity Finite Element Method', Tribology Letters, vol. 58, no. 3.
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Li, H, Öchsner, A, Wei, D, Ni, G & Jiang, Z 2015, 'Crystal plasticity finite element modelling of the effect of friction on surface asperity flattening in cold uniaxial planar compression', Applied Surface Science, vol. 359, pp. 236-244.
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Li, J, Lin, X, Rui, X, Rui, Y & Tao, D 2015, 'A Distributed Approach Toward Discriminative Distance Metric Learning.', IEEE Trans. Neural Networks Learn. Syst., vol. 26, no. 9, pp. 2111-2122.
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Distance metric learning (DML) is successful in
discovering intrinsic relations in data. However, most algorithms
are computationally demanding when the problem size becomes
large. In this paper, we propose a discriminative metric learning
algorithm, develop a distributed scheme learning metrics on
moderate-sized subsets of data, and aggregate the results into
a global solution. The technique leverages the power of parallel
computation. The algorithm of the aggregated DML (ADML)
scales well with the data size and can be controlled by the
partition. We theoretically analyze and provide bounds for the
error induced by the distributed treatment. We have conducted
experimental evaluation of the ADML, both on specially designed
tests and on practical image annotation tasks. Those tests have
shown that the ADML achieves the state-of-the-art performance
at only a fraction of the cost incurred by most existing methods.
Li, J, Wu, C & Hao, H 2015, 'An experimental and numerical study of reinforced ultra-high performance concrete slabs under blast loads', Materials & Design, vol. 82, pp. 64-76.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) which is characterized by high strength, high ductility and high toughness has been widely applied in modern structure construction. Outstanding mechanical feature of UHPC not only enables strong yet slim structure design but also highlights its potential in protective engineering against extreme loads like impact or explosion. In this research a series of reinforced concrete slabs are tested to determine their response under explosive loading conditions. Concrete materials used in the slab construction are ultra-high strength concrete (UHPC) and normal strength concrete (NSC). In total five slabs are tested including four UHPC slabs with varying reinforcement ratios and one control NSC slab with normal reinforcement. Explosive charges with TNT equivalent weights ranging from 1.0 to 14.0 kg at scaled distances ranging from 0.41 to 3.05m/kg1/3 are used in the current experiments. Test results verified the effectiveness of UHPC slabs against blast loads. Numerical models are established in LS-DYNA to reproduce the field blast tests on UHPC slabs. The numerical results are compared with the field test data, and the feasibility and validity of the numerical predictions of UHPC slab responses are demonstrated.
Li, J, Wu, C & Hao, H 2015, 'Investigation of ultra-high performance concrete slab and normal strength concrete slab under contact explosion', Engineering Structures, vol. 102, pp. 395-408.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Dynamic performance of concrete structures under blast loading conditions is a topic of importance as such load generates severe structural damage including flexural damage, shear damage and concrete spall damage which may impose threats to the personnel and instruments shielded by the reinforced concrete structure. To mitigate blast effects on civil structures, a new kind of concrete material named Ultra-High-Performance-Concrete (UHPC) is now widely studied and applied. UHPC material is known for its high compressive and tensile strength, large energy absorption capacity as well as good workability and anti-abrasion ability. In a previous study, the performance of UHPC slab under blast loads had been investigated through free air explosion tests. The blast resistance capacity of UHPC had been demonstrated through comparison with normal strength concrete. In the present study, the dynamic performance of UHPC slab under contact charge explosion is experimentally studied and compared with normal strength concrete slab under the same loading scenario. Numerical models are established to reproduce both the previous free air explosion tests and the current contact explosion tests. In particular, finite element model is established to simulate the free air explosion test, and coupled smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) method and finite element method is utilized to simulate the contact blast tests. Numerical results are compared with the experimental observations, and the feasibility and accuracy of the numerical model are validated.
Li, J, Wu, C, Hao, H & Su, Y 2015, 'Investigation of Ultra-High Performance Concrete under Static and Blast Loads', International Journal of Protective Structures, vol. 6, no. 2, pp. 217-235.
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Conventional concrete works as an important construction material. However, conventional concrete is known to be brittle and prone to tensile failure and cracks. To overcome such defects and improve the dynamic performance of concrete against extreme loading conditions, concrete with different additions and formulae have been developed. In a recent study, to develop ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) material with better strength and crack control ability, super fine aggregates with high pozzolanic effect were mixed into the steel fibre reinforced concrete instead of the traditional graded coarse aggregates. Furthermore, to achieve high early age strength, nanoscale additives which can accelerate the hydration process of the ordinary Portland cement were also introduced into the concrete composite. A series of uniaxial compression and four-point bending tests had been performed in the laboratory to get the material properties of this innovative concrete material. Great improvement of the concrete uniaxial compressive strength and flexural tensile strength was observed. Field blast tests were carried out on columns made of this UHPC material. Superior blast resistance performance was observed. In the current study, based on the available test data, numerical models are developed and numerical simulations are carried out. The simulation results are found to comply well with the experimental results.
Li, JC, Liu, TT, Li, HB, Liu, YQ, Liu, B & Xia, X 2015, 'Shear Wave Propagation Across Filled Joints with the Effect of Interfacial Shear Strength', Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, vol. 48, no. 4, pp. 1547-1557.
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Li, JJ, Kim, K, Roohani-Esfahani, S-I, Guo, J, Kaplan, DL & Zreiqat, H 2015, 'A biphasic scaffold based on silk and bioactive ceramic with stratified properties for osteochondral tissue regeneration', Journal of Materials Chemistry B, vol. 3, no. 26, pp. 5361-5376.
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The developed biphasic scaffold featured a gradient of structural, mechanical and biological cues to match the segments of osteochondral tissue.
Li, K, Safavi-Naeini, M, Franklin, DR, Han, Z, Rosenfeld, AB, Hutton, B & Lerch, MLF 2015, 'A new virtual ring-based system matrix generator for iterative image reconstruction in high resolution small volume PET systems', PHYSICS IN MEDICINE AND BIOLOGY, vol. 60, no. 17, pp. 6949-6973.
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Li, N, Ferrie, C, Gross, JA, Kalev, A & Caves, CM 2015, 'Fisher-symmetric informationally complete measurements for pure states', Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 116, no. 18, pp. 180402-180402.
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We introduce a new kind of quantum measurement that is defined to besymmetric in the sense of uniform Fisher information across a set of parametersthat injectively represent pure quantum states in the neighborhood of afiducial pure state. The measurement is locally informationallycomplete---i.e., it uniquely determines these parameters, as opposed todistinguishing two arbitrary quantum states---and it is maximal in the sense ofa multi-parameter quantum Cramer-Rao bound. For a $d$-dimensional quantumsystem, requiring only local informational completeness allows us to reduce thenumber of outcomes of the measurement from a minimum close to but below $4d-3$,for the usual notion of global pure-state informational completeness, to$2d-1$.
Li, Q, Guo, J, Cao, X, Yuan, X, Rao, K, Zheng, Z, Liu, Z & Hu, S 2015, 'Trend of non‐communicable disease mortality for three common conditions in the elderly population from 2002 to 2010: A population‐based study in China', Chronic Diseases and Translational Medicine, vol. 1, no. 3, pp. 152-157.
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AbstractObjectiveThere is a lack of data focusing on non‐communicable disease (NCD) mortality in the Chinese elderly population over the past decade.MethodsUsing mortality data from the Chinese Health Statistics, we explored the crude and age‐standardized mortality trend of three major NCDs in the Chinese population ≥65 years of age from 2002 to 2010, namely, malignant neoplasms, heart diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases. Subpopulations characterized as rural and urban residence, and by gender and age were examined separately.ResultsMortality increased with age and was higher among males than among females across the three NCDs, with the gender difference being most remarkable for malignant neoplasms and least for heart diseases mortality. Condition‐specific crude mortalities increased between 2002 and 2010, overall and in all the pre‐specified subpopulations. After age‐standardization, rising trends were observed for people ≥65 years old, and condition‐specific mortalities generally increased in rural regions and decreased in urban regions, especially for cerebrovascular diseases.ConclusionsThere were increasing trends for mortality due to malignant neoplasms, heart diseases, and cerebrovascular diseases in China between 2002 and 2010, which were largely driven by the population aging. Disparities existed by rural and urban residence, gender, and age.
Li, Q-S, Xiong, R, Huang, S & Huang, Y-M 2015, 'Building a dense surface map incrementally from semi-dense point cloud and RGBimages', Frontiers of Information Technology & Electronic Engineering, vol. 16, no. 7, pp. 594-606.
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© 2015, Journal of Zhejiang University Science Editorial Office and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Building and using maps is a fundamental issue for bionic robots in field applications. A dense surface map, which offers rich visual and geometric information, is an ideal representation of the environment for indoor/outdoor localization, navigation, and recognition tasks of these robots. Since most bionic robots can use only small light-weight laser scanners and cameras to acquire semi-dense point cloud and RGB images, we propose a method to generate a consistent and dense surface map from this kind of semi-dense point cloud and RGB images. The method contains two main steps: (1) generate a dense surface for every single scan of point cloud and its corresponding image(s) and (2) incrementally fuse the dense surface of a new scan into the whole map. In step (1) edge-aware resampling is realized by segmenting the scan of a point cloud in advance and resampling each sub-cloud separately. Noise within the scan is reduced and a dense surface is generated. In step (2) the average surface is estimated probabilistically and the non-coincidence of different scans is eliminated. Experiments demonstrate that our method works well in both indoor and outdoor semi-structured environments where there are regularly shaped objects.
Li, S & Liu, W 2015, 'Cardinal directions: a comparison of direction relation matrix and objects interaction matrix', International Journal of Geographical Information Science, vol. 29, no. 2, pp. 194-216.
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© 2014 Taylor & Francis. How to express and reason with cardinal directions between extended objects such as lines and regions is an important problem in qualitative spatial reasoning (QSR), a common subfield of geographical information science and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The direction relation matrix (DRM) model, proposed by Goyal and Egenhofer in 1997, is one very expressive relation model for this purpose. Unlike many other relation models in QSR, the set-theoretic converse of a DRM relation is not necessarily representable in DRM. Schneider et al. regard this as a serious shortcoming and propose, in their work published in ACM TODS (2012), the objects interaction matrix (OIM) model for modelling cardinal directions between complex regions. OIM is also a tiling-based model that consists of two phases: the tiling phase and the interpretation phase. Although it was claimed that OIM is a novel concept, we show that it is not so different from DRM if we represent the cardinal direction of two regions a and b by both the DRM of a to b and that of b to a. Under this natural assumption, we give methods for computing DRMs from OIMs and vice versa, and show that OIM is almost the same as DRM in the tiling phase, and becomes less precise after interpretation. Furthermore, exploiting the similarity between the two models, we prove that the consistency of a complete basic OIM network can be decided in cubic time. This answers an open problem raised by Schneider et al. regarding efficient algorithms for reasoning with OIM.
Li, S-Y, Chen, S-A, Lin, C-T, Ko, L-W, Yang, C-H & Chen, H-H 2015, 'Generalized Synchronization of Nonlinear Chaotic Systems through Natural Bioinspired Controlling Strategy', Abstract and Applied Analysis, vol. 2015, pp. 1-14.
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A novel bioinspired control strategy design is proposed for generalized synchronization of nonlinear chaotic systems, combining the bioinspired stability theory, fuzzy modeling, and a novel, simple-form Lyapunov control function design of derived high efficient, heuristic and bioinspired controllers. Three main contributions are concluded: (1) apply the bioinspired stability theory to further analyze the stability of fuzzy error systems; the high performance of controllers has been shown in previous study by Li and Ge 2009, (2) a new Lyapunov control function based on bioinspired stability theory is designed to achieve synchronization without using traditional LMI method, which is a simple linear homogeneous function of states and the process of designing controller to synchronize two fuzzy chaotic systems becomes much simpler, and (3) three different situations of synchronization are proposed; classical master and slave Lorenz systems, slave Chen’s system, and Rossler’s system as functional system are illustrated to further show the effectiveness and feasibility of our novel strategy. The simulation results show that our novel control strategy can be applied to different and complicated control situations with high effectiveness.
Li, W, Dai, Y, Ma, L, Hao, H, Lu, H, Albinson, R & Li, Z 2015, 'Oil-saving pathways until 2030 for road freight transportation in China based on a cost-optimization model', Energy, vol. 86, pp. 369-384.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. This paper proposed a COSM (cost-optimization superstructure model) and derived the optimized oil-saving pathways for road freight transportation in China until 2030. The optimization target of the COSM was to minimize the accumulated energy and vehicle costs from 2010 to 2030 by choosing the most cost-effective fuel option for newly registered trucks each year. Based on the COSM, three scenarios were developed to evaluate the oil-saving pathway in terms of imported crude oil price, available alternative fuels and GHG emission reduction. The scenario analysis results indicate that: (1) for scenario A, the accumulated oil-saving potential was approximately about 13%, while the oil-saving potential of improving fuel consumption rate and load running rate was 17% and 16%; (2) for scenario B, the accumulated oil-saving potential increased to 82% in reference oil price and 23% in low oil price; (3) for scenario C, to reduce per ton of GHG emission, the increased cost will increase from 34 USD to 450 USD when the GHG emission target decreased from 15.4 billion tons to the turn point of 13.5 billion tons.
Li, W, Huang, Z, Cao, F, Sun, Z & Shah, SP 2015, 'Effects of nano-silica and nano-limestone on flowability and mechanical properties of ultra-high-performance concrete matrix', Construction and Building Materials, vol. 95, pp. 366-374.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. The effects of nano-silica/SiO2 (NS) and nano-limestone/CaCO3 (NC) on the flowability, strengths and microstructure of ultra-high-performance concrete (UHPC) matrix under different curing conditions were investigated in this study. The NS and NC were incorporated at different ratios as partial mass replacements for cement. On the microstructure aspect, the results verify that the NS acts as an effective filling material, which reduced porous areas and accelerated the cement hydration process by pozzolanic effect. On the other hand, the NC acts mainly as an inert filler material that created a denser microstructure, but accelerated the cement hydration process through boundary nucleation growth effect. On the mechanical properties aspect, a threshold value of the NS and NC contents were found so that the compressive, flexural strengths and flexural to compressive strength ratio of the UHPC matrix were found to increase as the NS and NC contents increased towards the threshold content, and then to decrease with the increase of NS and NC contents when the threshold was surpassed. Corresponding to the highest measured mechanical strengths of UHPC matrix, the optimal contents of NS and NC are around 1.0% and 3.0%, respectively. The research concluded that the NS and NC contents are critical to the performance of UHPC matrix.
Li, W, Xiao, J, Kawashima, S, Shekhawat, GS & Shah, SP 2015, 'Experimental Investigation on Quantitative Nanomechanical Properties of Cement Paste', ACI Materials Journal, vol. 112, no. 2, pp. 229-238.
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Copyright © 2015, American Concrete Institute. All rights reserved. Nanoindentation, quantitative modulus mapping, and PeakForce quantitative nanomechanical mapping (QNM) are applied to investigate the quantitative nanomechanics of hardened cement paste at different spatial resolutions. The elastic modulus measured by static nanoindentation is slightly higher than those measured by the other methods. The average elastic modulus and probability obtained by PeakForce QNM are typically consistent with those found by modulus mapping. Both modulus mapping and PeakForce QNM can be used to discriminate different material phases in cement paste at the nanoscale. It concludes that cement paste is a granular material in which the sub-micron scale grains or basic nanoscale units pack together. Moreover, the high resolution Peak-Force QNM can provide an efficient tool for identifying nanomechanical properties, particle sizes, and thickness of the interface between different nanoscale grains.
Li, W, Xiao, J, Shi, C & Poon, CS 2015, 'Structural Behaviour of Composite Members with Recycled Aggregate Concrete — An Overview', Advances in Structural Engineering, vol. 18, no. 6, pp. 919-938.
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A series of investigations on structural behaviour, durability, fire-resistance and seismic performance of composite members with recycled aggregate concrete (RAC) have been carried out in the past 10 years (2005–2014). This paper is consisted of three parts: the first part introduces and discusses the research progress in regard to the structural behaviour of RAC filled steel tubular columns and beams; the second part concentrates on the structural behaviour of steel-reinforced RAC members, including columns, beams, shear walls and slabs; and the third part focuses on the long-term performance of composite members with RAC, involving fire resistance, durability and seismic performance. It seems that RAC composite members with different replacement ratios of recycled coarse aggregate have slightly lower or similar structural behaviour compared to that of normal concrete composite members. Review results reveal that it is feasible to apply steel-RAC composite members as structural applications. This intensive review provides a reasonable knowledge of the structural behaviour of steel-RAC composite members, and recommends further investigations on the failure mechanics and durability of steel-RAC composite members which are needed to promote safe and economic application in the future.
Li, X, Li, J, Wang, H, Huang, X, He, B, Yao, Y, Wang, J, Zhang, H, Ngo, HH & Guo, W 2015, 'A filtration model for prediction of local flux distribution and optimization of submerged hollow fiber membrane module', AIChE Journal, vol. 61, no. 12, pp. 4377-4386.
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A filtration mathematical model was developed on the basis of complete mass balance and momentum balance for the local flux distribution prediction and optimization of submerged hollow fiber membrane module. In this model, the effect of radial permeate flow on internal flow resistance was considered through a slip parameter obtained from the local flux experiments. The effects of fiber length, inside diameter, and average operating flux on local flux distribution were investigated using this model. The predicted results were in good agreement with the experimental data obtained from literature. It was also found that the asymmetry distribution of local flux could be intensified with the increase of average operating flux and fiber length, but slowed down with the increase of fiber inside diameter. Furthermore, the simulation coupled with energy consumption analysis could efficiently predict and illustrate the relationship between fiber geometry and water production efficiency. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 4377–4386, 2015
Li, X, Nemcik, J, Mirzaghorbanali, A, Aziz, N & Rasekh, H 2015, 'Analytical model of shear behaviour of a fully grouted cable bolt subjected to shearing', International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, vol. 80, pp. 31-39.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. A fully grouted cable bolt is normally loaded at rock joints by a combination of the axial and shear forces causing both axial extension and shear deformation of the cable. The proposed analyses presented here attempts to predict the joint shear strength and shear displacement. The analyses are based on the statically indeterminate beam theory and some basic findings and conclusions of other researchers. Parametrical investigation is performed on four influence factors including bolt pretension, joint friction angle, concrete strength and bolt installation angle. Although the true plastic moduli of the cable bolt deflecting section at failure are the essential parameters in this analysis, they are practically impossible to determine. Thus, the average cable moduli obtained from the cable tensile strength tests were used. The proposed analytical model was compared with the experimental results, showing a good agreement. This analytical work aims to develop a simple tool for the practicing geotechnical engineer to effectively evaluate the cable shear behaviour and the influence of fully grouted cable bolts on joint shear resistance.
Li, X, Wang, Z, Zhang, Z, Chen, L, Cheng, J, Ni, W, Wang, B & Xie, E 2015, 'Light Illuminated α−Fe2O3/Pt Nanoparticles as Water Activation Agent for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting', Scientific Reports, vol. 5, no. 1.
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AbstractThe photoelectrochemical (PEC) water splitting is hampered by strong bonds of H2O molecules and low ionic conductivity of pure water. The photocatalysts dispersed in pure water can serve as a water activation agent, which provides an alternative pathway to overcome such limitations. Here we report that the light illuminated α−Fe2O3/Pt nanoparticles may produce a reservoir of reactive intermediates including H2O2, ·OH, OH− and H+ capable of promoting the pure water reduction/oxidation half−reactions at cathode and highly photocatalytic−active TiO2/In2S3/AgInS2 photoanode, respectively. Remarkable photocurrent enhancement has been obtained with α−Fe2O3/Pt as water activation agent. The use of α−Fe2O3/Pt to promote the reactivity of pure water represents a new paradigm for reproducible hydrogen fuel provision by PEC water splitting, allowing efficient splitting of pure water without adding of corrosive chemicals or sacrificial agent.
Li, X, Xu, G, Chen, E & Zong, Y 2015, 'Learning recency based comparative choice towards point-of-interest recommendation', Expert Systems with Applications, vol. 42, no. 9, pp. 4274-4283.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. With the prevalence of GPS-enabled smart phones, Location Based Social Network (LBSN) has emerged and become a hot research topic during the past few years. As one of the most important components in LBSN, Points-of-Interests (POIs) has been extensively studied by both academia and industry, yielding POI recommendations to enhance user experience in exploring the city. In conventional methods, rating vectors for both users and POIs are utilized for similarity calculation, which might yield inaccuracy due to the differences of user biases. In our opinion, the rating values themselves do not give exact preferences of users, however the numeric order of ratings given by a user within a certain period provides a hint of preference order of POIs by such user. Firstly, we propose an approach to model users preference by employing utility theory. Secondly, We devise a collection-wise learning method over partial orders through an effective stochastic gradient descent algorithm. We test our model on two real world datasets, i.e., Yelp and TripAdvisor, by comparing with some state-of-the-art approaches including PMF and several user preference modeling methods. In terms of MAP and Recall, we averagely achieve 15% improvement with regard to the baseline methods. The results show the significance of comparative choice in a certain time window and show its superiority to the existing methods.
Li, X, Zhang, H, Hou, Y, Gao, Y, Li, J, Guo, W & Ngo, HH 2015, 'In situ investigation of combined organic and colloidal fouling for nanofiltration membrane using ultrasonic time domain reflectometry', Desalination, vol. 362, pp. 43-51.
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Li, Y & Li, J 2015, 'A Highly Adjustable Base Isolator Utilizing Magnetorheological Elastomer: Experimental Testing and Modeling', JOURNAL OF VIBRATION AND ACOUSTICS-TRANSACTIONS OF THE ASME, vol. 137, no. 1.
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Copyright © 2015 by ASME. This paper presents a recent research advance on the development of a novel adaptive seismic isolation system to be used in seismic protection of civil structures. A highly adjustable laminated magnetorheological elastomer (MRE) base isolator was developed and experimental results show that the prototypical MRE base isolator provides increase in lateral stiffness up to 1630%. To facilitate the structural control development using such adaptive MRE base isolator, an analytical model was developed to simulate its behaviors. Comparison between the analytical model and experimental data proves the effectiveness of such model in reproducing the behavior of MRE base isolator.
Li, Y & Li, J 2015, 'Finite element design and analysis of adaptive base isolator utilizing laminated multiple magnetorheological elastomer layers', Journal of Intelligent Material Systems and Structures, vol. 26, no. 14, pp. 1861-1870.
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Available magnetorheological elastomer devices normally consist one to two layers of small-size magnetorheological elastomer materials. To be used in large-scale structures, magnetorheological elastomer devices with multiple larger magnetorheological elastomer materials are expected. This article addresses the critical issue in designing a large-scale device with multiple layers of low magnetic conductive magnetorheological elastomer materials, that is, magnetic circuit design. The primary target in magnetic circuit design for magnetorheological elastomer devices is to provide sufficient and uniform magnetic field to all magnetorheological elastomer layers in the device. In this article, finite element investigations are conducted. An innovative magnetic circuit design is proposed for magnetorheological elastomer base isolator with multi-layer of magnetorheological elastomer materials. In the design, laminated magnetorheological elastomer and steel structure is adopted as part of the magnetic core together with two steel blocks. Cylindrical steel tube is used as the yoke of the magnetic circuit. Two plates are placed on the top and bottom of the device to form enclosed magnetic path in the device. Finite element results showed that such innovative magnetic design is able to provide sufficient and uniform magnetic field to all magnetorheological elastomer layers, that is, 25 magnetorheological elastomer layers with thickness of 1 mm and diameter of 120 mm in this case. Finally, the influence of lateral deformation of the magnetorheological elastomer base isolator on the magnetic field is investigated. It is found that the magnetic field in magnetorheological elastomer materials deteriorates when the deformation of the device increases.
Li, Y, Liu, Z, Zhang, Y, Su, QP, Xue, B, Shao, S, Zhu, Y, Xu, X, Wei, S & Sun, Y 2015, 'Live‐cell and super‐resolution imaging reveal that the distribution of wall‐associated protein A is correlated with the cell chain integrity of Streptococcus mutans', Molecular Oral Microbiology, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 376-383.
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SummaryStreptococcus mutans is a primary pathogen responsible for dental caries. It has an outstanding ability to form biofilm, which is vital for virulence. Previous studies have shown that knockout of Wall‐associated protein A (WapA) affects cell chain and biofilm formation of S. mutans. As a surface protein, the distribution of WapA remains unknown, but it is important to understand the mechanism underlying the function of WapA. This study applied the fluorescence protein mCherry as a reporter gene to characterize the dynamic distribution of WapA in S. mutans via time‐lapse and super‐resolution fluorescence imaging. The results revealed interesting subcellular distribution patterns of WapA in single, dividing and long chains of S. mutans cells. It appears at the middle of the cell and moves to the poles as the cell grows and divides. In a cell chain, after each round of cell division, such dynamic relocation results in WapA distribution at the previous cell division sites, resulting in a pattern where WapA is located at the boundary of two adjacent cell pairs. This WapA distribution pattern corresponds to the breaking segmentation of wapA deletion cell chains. The dynamic relocation of WapA through the cell cycle increases our understanding of the mechanism of WapA in maintaining cell chain integrity and biofilm formation.
Li, Z, He, Y, Wong, L & Li, J 2015, 'Burial Level Change Defines a High Energetic Relevance for Protein Binding Interfaces', IEEE-ACM TRANSACTIONS ON COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY AND BIOINFORMATICS, vol. 12, no. 2, pp. 410-421.
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Protein-protein interfaces defined through atomic contact or solvent accessibility change are widely adopted in structural biology studies. But, these definitions cannot precisely capture energetically important regions at protein interfaces. The burial depth of an atom in a protein is related to the atom's energy. This work investigates how closely the change in burial level of an atom/residue upon complexation is related to the binding. Burial level change is different from burial level itself. An atom deeply buried in a monomer with a high burial level may not change its burial level after an interaction and it may have little burial level change. We hypothesize that an interface is a region of residues all undergoing burial level changes after interaction. By this definition, an interface can be decomposed into an onion-like structure according to the burial level change extent. We found that our defined interfaces cover energetically important residues more precisely, and that the binding free energy of an interface is distributed progressively from the outermost layer to the core. These observations are used to predict binding hot spots. Our approach's F-measure performance on a benchmark dataset of alanine mutagenesis residues is much superior or similar to those by complicated energy modeling or machine learning approaches.
Li, Z, Qin, L, Cheng, H, Zhang, X & Zhou, X 2015, 'TRIP: An Interactive Retrieving-Inferring Data Imputation Approach.', IEEE Trans. Knowl. Data Eng., vol. 27, no. 9, pp. 2550-2563.
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© 2015 IEEE. Data imputation aims at filling in missing attribute values in databases. Most existing imputation methods to string attribute values are inferring-based approaches, which usually fail to reach a high imputation recall by just inferring missing values from the complete part of the data set. Recently, some retrieving-based methods are proposed to retrieve missing values from external resources such as the World Wide Web, which tend to reach a much higher imputation recall, but inevitably bring a large overhead by issuing a large number of search queries. In this paper, we investigate the interaction between the inferring-based methods and the retrieving-based methods. We show that retrieving a small number of selected missing values can greatly improve the imputation recall of the inferring-based methods. With this intuition, we propose an inTeractive Retrieving-Inferring data imPutation approach (TRIP), which performs retrieving and inferring alternately in filling in missing attribute values in a data set. To ensure the high recall at the minimum cost, TRIP faces a challenge of selecting the least number of missing values for retrieving to maximize the number of inferable values. Our proposed solution is able to identify an optimal retrieving-inferring scheduling scheme in deterministic data imputation, and the optimality of the generated scheme is theoretically analyzed with proofs. We also analyze with an example that the optimal scheme is not feasible to be achieved in τ-constrained stochastic data imputation (τ-SDI), but still, our proposed solution identifies an expected-optimal scheme in τ-SDI. Extensive experiments on four data collections show that TRIP retrieves on average 20 percent missing values and achieves the same high recall that was reached by the retrieving-based approach.
Liang, J, Vinh Nguyen, Q, Simoff, S & Lin Huang, M 2015, 'Divide and Conquer treemaps: Visualizing large trees with various shapes', Journal of Visual Languages & Computing, vol. 31, no. 2015, pp. 104-127.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Most existing treemaps achieve the space utilization of a single geometrical area, mostly rectangle. Limiting visualization to rectangles could block the human capability on graph recognition, including orientation, shape and differentiation etc. To relax rectangular constraint, we propose a flexible enclosure approach with three algorithms. It partitions large hierarchical structures within a confined display area with different shapes for real-time applications. Our approach is based on the combination of Divide-and-Conquer method and the treemap paradigm. The partitioning algorithms generate three types of layouts with polygonal, angular and rectangular titling, which are flexible to be used separately or combined. We present technical details including the visualization results in the experiments and in the cases studies with real data sets. We evaluated the visualization based on graph drawing aesthetics and optimization criteria. Our usability study shows that (1) treemaps with layout variability support utilization of human capability in graph perception and (2) treemaps adopted in different shaped containers could have a positive impact on user satisfaction and awareness during visual data exploration.
Liao, H, Xu, Z, Zeng, X-J & Merigo, JM 2015, 'Framework of Group Decision Making With Intuitionistic Fuzzy Preference Information', IEEE Transactions on Fuzzy Systems, vol. 23, no. 4, pp. 1211-1227.
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Liao, H, Xu, Z, Zeng, X-J & Merigó, JM 2015, 'Qualitative decision making with correlation coefficients of hesitant fuzzy linguistic term sets', Knowledge-Based Systems, vol. 76, pp. 127-138.
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Liao, S-H, Hsieh, J-G, Chang, J-Y & Lin, C-T 2015, 'Training neural networks via simplified hybrid algorithm mixing Nelder–Mead and particle swarm optimization methods', Soft Computing, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 679-689.
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© 2014, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. In this paper, a new and simplified hybrid algorithm mixing the simplex method of Nelder and Mead (NM) and particle swarm optimization algorithm (PSO), abbreviated as SNM-PSO, is proposed for the training of the parameters of the Artificial Neural Network (ANN). Our method differs from other hybrid PSO methods in that, n+1 particles, where n is the dimension of the search space, are randomly selected (without sorting), at each iteration of the proposed algorithm for use as the initial vertices of the NM algorithm, and each such particle is replaced by the corresponding final vertex after executing the NM algorithm. All the particles are then updated using the standard PSO algorithm. Our proposed method is simpler than other similar hybrid PSO methods and places more emphasis on the exploration of the search space. Some simulation problems will be provided to compare the performances of the proposed method with PSO and other similar hybrid PSO methods in training an ANN. These simulations show that the proposed method outperforms the other compared methods.
Lijun Zhang, Xiaohua Xia & Jiangfeng Zhang 2015, 'Medium Density Control for Coal Washing Dense Medium Cyclone Circuits', IEEE Transactions on Control Systems Technology, vol. 23, no. 3, pp. 1117-1122.
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Lin, C-T, Chiu, T-C & Gramann, K 2015, 'EEG correlates of spatial orientation in the human retrosplenial complex', NeuroImage, vol. 120, pp. 123-132.
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© 2015 Elsevier Inc. Studies on spatial navigation reliably demonstrate that the retrosplenial complex (RSC) plays a pivotal role for allocentric spatial information processing by transforming egocentric and allocentric spatial information into the respective other spatial reference frame (SRF). While more and more imaging studies investigate the role of the RSC in spatial tasks, high temporal resolution measures such as electroencephalography (EEG) are missing. To investigate the function of the RSC in spatial navigation with high temporal resolution we used EEG to analyze spectral perturbations during navigation based on allocentric and egocentric SRF. Participants performed a path integration task in a clearly structured virtual environment providing allothetic information. Continuous EEG recordings were decomposed by independent component analysis (ICA) with subsequent source reconstruction of independent time source series using equivalent dipole modeling. Time-frequency transformation was used to investigate reference frame-specific orientation processes during navigation as compared to a control condition with identical visual input but no orientation task. Our results demonstrate that navigation based on an egocentric reference frame recruited a network including the parietal, motor, and occipital cortices with dominant perturbations in the alpha band and theta modulation in frontal cortex. Allocentric navigation was accompanied by performance-related desynchronization of the 8-13. Hz frequency band and synchronization in the 12-14. Hz band in the RSC. The results support the claim that the retrosplenial complex is central to translating egocentric spatial information into allocentric reference frames. Modulations in different frequencies with different time courses in the RSC further provide first evidence of two distinct neural processes reflecting translation of spatial information based on distinct reference frames and the computation of heading changes.
Lin, C-T, Prasad, M & Saxena, A 2015, 'An Improved Polynomial Neural Network Classifier Using Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm', IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics: Systems, vol. 45, no. 11, pp. 1389-1401.
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© 2015 IEEE. In this paper, a novel approach is proposed to improve the classification performance of a polynomial neural network (PNN). In this approach, the partial descriptions (PDs) are generated at the first layer based on all possible combinations of two features of the training input patterns of a dataset. The set of PDs from the first layer, the set of all input features, and a bias constitute the chromosome of the real-coded genetic algorithm (RCGA). A system of equations is solved to determine the values of the real coefficients of each chromosome of the RCGA for the training dataset with the mean classification accuracy (CA) as the fitness value of each chromosome. To adjust these values for unknown testing patterns, the RCGA is iterated in the usual manner using simple selection, crossover, mutation, and elitist selection. The method is tested extensively with the University of California, Irvine benchmark datasets by utilizing tenfold cross validation of each dataset, and the performance is compared with various well-known state-of-the-art techniques. The results obtained from the proposed method in terms of CA are superior and outperform other known methods on various datasets.
Lin, H, Batty, M, Jørgensen, SE, Fu, B, Konecny, M, Voinov, A, Torrens, P, Lu, G, Zhu, A, Wilson, JP, Gong, J, Kolditz, O, Bandrova, T & Chen, M 2015, 'Virtual Environments Begin to Embrace Process‐based Geographic Analysis', Transactions in GIS, vol. 19, no. 4, pp. 493-498.
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Lin, S, Ni, W, Tian, H & Liu, RP 2015, 'An Evolutionary Game Theoretic Framework for Femtocell Radio Resource Management', IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, vol. 14, no. 11, pp. 6365-6376.
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© 2002-2012 IEEE. Plug-and-play femtocells will be an integrating part of future cellular networks. Resource management and interference mitigation become challenging, suffering from severely delayed network control in large-scale deployments. We propose a new game theoretic framework, where fast interference suppression is decoupled from the relatively slow frequency allocation process to tolerate the delayed control. The key idea is to cast femtocell clustering as an outer-loop evolutionary game coupled with bankruptcy channel allocation, which drives the cells to spontaneously switch to less interfered clusters. Within each cluster, we design an inner-loop non-cooperative power control game, such that the requirement of prompt control is eliminated. The two loops interact recursively with analytically confirmed stability. Simulations show that our framework can improve the throughput by 13.2% in a network of 200 cells, compared to the prior art. The gain grows further with the network size.
Ling, SH 2015, 'Iterated Function System-Based Crossover Operation for Real-Coded Genetic Algorithm', Journal of Intelligent Learning Systems and Applications, vol. 07, no. 02, pp. 37-41.
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Liu, A, Richards, L, Bladen, CL, Ingham, E, Fisher, J & Tipper, JL 2015, 'The biological response to nanometre-sized polymer particles', Acta Biomaterialia, vol. 23, pp. 38-51.
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Liu, C, Zhu, J, Wang, Y, Guo, Y & Lei, G 2015, 'Comparison of Claw-Pole Machines With Different Rotor Structures', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 51, no. 11, pp. 1-4.
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Liu, C, Zhu, J, Wang, Y, Guo, Y, Lei, G & Liu, X 2015, 'Development of a low-cost double rotor axial flux motor with soft magnetic composite and ferrite permanent magnet materials', Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 117, no. 17, pp. 17B507-17B507.
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This paper proposes a low-cost double rotor axial flux motor (DRAFM) with low cost soft magnetic composite (SMC) core and ferrite permanent magnets (PMs). The topology and operating principle of DRAFM and design considerations for best use of magnetic materials are presented. A 905 W 4800 rpm DRAFM is designed for replacing the high cost NdFeB permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM) in a refrigerator compressor. By using the finite element method, the electromagnetic parameters and performance of the DRAFM operated under the field oriented control scheme are calculated. Through the analysis, it is shown that that the SMC and ferrite PM materials can be good candidates for low-cost electric motor applications.
Liu, D, Lin, C-T, Tan, KC, Kendall, G & Cangelosi, A 2015, 'CIS Publication Spotlight [Publication Spotlight]', IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine, vol. 10, no. 4, pp. 7-9.
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Liu, D, Lin, C-T, Tan, KC, Kendall, G & Cangelosi, A 2015, 'CIS Publication Spotlight [Publication Spotlight]', IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine, vol. 10, no. 3, pp. 5-7.
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Liu, D, Lin, C-T, Tan, KC, Kendall, G & Cangelosi, A 2015, 'CIS Publication Spotlight [Publication Spotlight]', IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 16-17.
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Liu, D, Lin, C-T, Tan, KC, Kendall, G & Cangelosi, A 2015, 'CIS Publication Spotlight [Publication Spotlight]', IEEE Computational Intelligence Magazine, vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 14-52.
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Liu, H & Madanat, S 2015, 'Adaptive optimisation methods in system-level bridge management', Structure and Infrastructure Engineering, vol. 11, no. 7, pp. 884-896.
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We introduce an approach for modelling the structural deterioration of components of bridges for maintenance optimization purposes. The Markov chain model is found in the maintenance and repair problems since the early 60's, is introduced to the maintenance of road infrastructure in the 1980's, and is made to drive the current bridge maintenance optimization systems. While this model results into solvable programming problems and provides a solution, there are a number of criticisms associated with it. We highlight the shortfalls of the Markov model for bridge lifetime assessment and promote the use of stochastic processes.
Liu, H, Hou, X, Kim, J & Zhong, Y 2015, 'Decoupled Robust Velocity Control for Uncertain Quadrotors', Asian Journal of Control, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 225-233.
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AbstractIn this paper, a decoupled robust velocity control method is investigated for a quadrotor. Although the quadrotor dynamics involves inter‐axis coupling and nonlinearity, the quadrotor system is divided into four single‐input single‐output (SISO) subsystems. For each subsystem, a linear time‐invariant robust controller is proposed, which uses its own states and consists of a nominal controller and a robust compensator. The nominal controller is designed by the proportional‐integral‐derivative (PID) control method to achieve the desired tracking for the nominal system. A robust compensator is added to restrain the influence of the parametric uncertainties, nonlinear dynamics, coupling, and external disturbances. The tracking error of each subsystem is proven to converge into an a priori set in the neighborhood of the origin in a finite time. Experimental results on the quadrotor demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed control method.
Liu, H, Laba, T, Massi, L, Jan, S, Usherwood, T, Patel, A, Hayman, NE, Cass, A, Eades, A, Lawrence, C & Peiris, DP 2015, 'Facilitators and barriers to implementation of a pragmatic clinical trial in Aboriginal health services', Medical Journal of Australia, vol. 203, no. 1, pp. 24-27.
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© 2015, Australasian Medical Publishing Co. Ltd. All rights reserved. Objective: To identify facilitators and barriers to clinical trial implementation in Aboriginal health services. Design: Indepth interview study with thematic analysis. Setting: Six Aboriginal community-controlled health services and one government-run service involved in the Kanyini Guidelines Adherence with the Polypill (KGAP) study, a pragmatic randomised controlled trial that aimed to improve adherence to indicated drug treatments for people at high risk of cardiovascular disease. Participants: 32 health care providers and 21 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients. Results: A fundamental enabler was that participants considered the research to be governed and endorsed by the local health service. That the research was perceived to address a health priority for communities was also highly motivating for both providers and patients. Enlisting the support of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff champions who were visible to the community as the main source of information about the trial was particularly important. The major implementation barrier for staff was balancing their service delivery roles with adherence to often highly demanding trial-related procedures. This was partially alleviated by the research team’s provision of onsite support and attempts to make trial processes more streamlined. Although more intensive support was highly desired, there were usually insufficient resources to provide this. Conclusion: Despite strong community and health service support, major investments in time and resources are needed to ensure successful implementation and minimal disruption to already overstretched, routine services. Trial budgets will necessarily be inflated as a result. Funding agencies need to consider these additional resource demands when supporting trials of a similar nature.
Liu, H, Wang, J, Wijayaratna, K, Dixit, VV & Waller, ST 2015, 'Integrating the Bus Vehicle Class Into the Cell Transmission Model', IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, vol. 16, no. 5, pp. 2620-2630.
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© 2015 IEEE. The traditional cell transmission model (CTM), a well-known dynamic traffic simulation method, does not cater to the presence of moving bottlenecks, which may be caused by buses traveling within a network. This may affect the dynamics of congestion that is present and may also affect route choice by all vehicles on a network. The main contribution of this paper is to provide an analytical formulation for a mixed traffic system that includes cars and buses, which realistically replicates moving bottlenecks. We modify the CTM model using methods from the lagged CTM to recognize speed differentials between the free-flow speed of buses and cars. In addition, the impact of capacity reduction caused by buses was incorporated. These developments led to the replication of moving bottlenecks caused by buses within the CTM framework. The formulated variant of CTM was utilized to determine a system optimal assignment that minimizes the total passenger travel time across cars and buses. The proposed modified CTM model, defined as the BUS-CTM, has been applied on a road link and a more detailed network to demonstrate the effectiveness of the approach. The numerical results and the depiction of the bottleneck phenomenon within the model suggests that the BUS-CTM obtains more realistic results compared with the application of the traditional CTM in a mixed car-bus transportation system. The sensitivity analysis shows that bus passenger demand, passenger occupancy of bus, and bus free-flow speeds are the key parameters that influence the system performance.
Liu, H, Zhang, J, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Wu, H, Cheng, C, Guo, Z & Zhang, C 2015, 'Carbohydrate-based activated carbon with high surface acidity and basicity for nickel removal from synthetic wastewater', RSC Advances, vol. 5, no. 64, pp. 52048-52056.
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The feasibility of preparing activated carbon from carbohydrates (glucose, sucrose and starch) with H3PO4 activation was evaluated by comparing its physicochemical properties and Ni(ii) adsorption ability with a reference Phragmites australis-based activated carbon.
Liu, H, Zhang, J, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Wu, H, Guo, Z, Cheng, C & Zhang, C 2015, 'Effect on physical and chemical characteristics of activated carbon on adsorption of trimethoprim: mechanisms study', RSC Advances, vol. 5, no. 104, pp. 85187-85195.
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Five different types of activated carbon varying in porosity, structure, and functional groups were prepared and used as adsorbents.
Liu, H, Zhu, X, Boon, CC & He, X 2015, 'Cell-Based Variable-Gain Amplifiers With Accurate dB-Linear Characteristic in 0.18 µm CMOS Technology', IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits, vol. 50, no. 2, pp. 586-596.
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A simple and robust “cell-based” method is presented
for the design of variable-gain amplifiers (VGAs). The proposed
unit cell utilizes a unique gain compensation method and achieves
accurate dB-linear characteristic across a wide tuning range with
low power consumption and wide bandwidth. Several such highly
dB-linear unit cells can be cascaded to provide the required gain
range for a VGA. To prove the concept, single-cell, 5-cell, 10-cell
and 15-cell reconfigurable VGAs were fabricated in a standard
0.18 µm CMOS technology. The measurement results show that
the 10-cell VGA achieves a gain range of 38.6 dB with less than
0.19 dB gain error. The 15-cell VGA can either be used as recon-
figurable VGA for analog control voltage or tunable PGA for digital
control stream, with the flexibility of scaling gain range, gain
error/step and power consumption. For the VGA at highest gain
setting, it consumes 1.12 mW and achieves a gain range of 56 dB,
gain error less than 0.3 dB.
Liu, H, Zhu, X, Boon, CC & Yi, X 2015, 'Design of an oscillator with low phase noise and medium output power in a 0.25 µm GaN‐on‐SiC high electron‐mobility transistors technology', IET Microwaves, Antennas & Propagation, vol. 9, no. 8, pp. 795-801.
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Liu, H, Zhu, X, Boon, CC, Yi, X & Kong, L 2015, 'A 71 dB 150 <formula formulatype='inline'><tex Notation='TeX'>$\mu {\rm W}$</tex></formula> Variable-Gain Amplifier in 0.18 <formula formulatype='inline'><tex Notation='TeX'>$\mu{\rm m}$</tex></formula> CMOS Technology', IEEE Microwave and Wireless Components Letters, vol. 25, no. 5, pp. 334-336.
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Liu, J, Ji, J, Zhou, J, Xiang, L & Zhao, L 2015, 'Adaptive group consensus in uncertain networked Euler-Lagrange systems under directed topology', NONLINEAR DYNAMICS, vol. 82, no. 3, pp. 1145-1157.
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Liu, K, Law, S-S & Zhu, X-Q 2015, 'Sensitivity Enhancement for Structural Condition Assessment with Noisy Excitation or with Only Output', International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics, vol. 15, no. 06, pp. 1450083-1450083.
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Revisited herein is the response sensitivity method for structural condition assessment. The performance of a sensitivity enhancement technique for structural damage identification is discussed with reference to cases with noisy excitation or with only output. An extended study on the structural condition assessment is conducted based on a newly developed force identification technique and the response sensitivity enhancement method. Numerical simulations with a planar truss structure show that the adverse effect of noise in excitation cannot be ignored in damage detection. A two-step method including the sensitivity enhancement technique for damage detection could improve the identification accuracy with less influence from the identified excitations. The improved structural condition assessment with sensitivity enhancement technique out-performs the conventional sensitivity approach with more accurate results from the truss structure studied even with a 10% noise in the measured responses.
Liu, K, Law, S-S & Zhu, X-Q 2015, 'Substructural Condition Assessment Based on Force Identification and Interface Force Sensitivity', International Journal of Structural Stability and Dynamics, vol. 15, no. 02, pp. 1450046-1450046.
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Time domain substructural condition assessment method is actively researched in recent years to avoid the problem with uncertainties in the different components of the structure, boundary conditions and with an improved effort in the inverse computation. Since the interface force between substructures would vary with the existence of local damages and excitation in the substructures, existing condition assessment method for a full structure cannot be applied directly to the substructures. Also, most existing approaches adopt the state space method in the response prediction. However, the state space method can be shown in this paper inaccurate in the forward substructural dynamic analysis due to the discretization error, and therefore identification based on this method cannot give satisfactory result for a substructure. The force identification for a full structure based on the explicit Newmark-β method has been shown superior to the state space method [K. Liu et al., J. Sound Vibr.33(3) (2014) 730–744]. This method is extended in this paper for substructural interface force identification. The variation of interface forces between substructures with variation in the substructural condition is illustrated with a plane truss structure. Subsequent condition assessment based on substructural response sensitivity is proposed with the analytical derivation of the sensitivity taking into account the interface force sensitivity which is not small to be ignored. The new damage detection method based on the explicit Newmark-β method and the substructural response sensitivity is verified numerically with different damage scenarios in a plane truss structure giving satisfactory results.
Liu, M, Dou, W, Yu, S & Zhang, Z 2015, 'A Decentralized Cloud Firewall Framework with Resources Provisioning Cost Optimization', IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, vol. 26, no. 3, pp. 621-631.
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Liu, Q, Ren, J, Song, J & Li, J 2015, 'Co-Occurring Atomic Contacts for the Characterization of Protein Binding Hot Spots', PLOS ONE, vol. 10, no. 12, pp. e0144486-e0144486.
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© 2015 Liu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. A binding hot spot is a small area at a protein-protein interface that can make significant contribution to binding free energy. This work investigates the substantial contribution made by some special co-occurring atomic contacts at a binding hot spot. A co-occurring atomic contact is a pair of atomic contacts that are close to each other with no more than three covalent-bond steps.We found that two kinds of co-occurring atomic contacts can play an important part in the accurate prediction of binding hot spot residues. One is the co-occurrence of two nearby hydrogen bonds. For example, mutations of any residue in a hydrogen bond network consisting of multiple co-occurring hydrogen bonds could disrupt the interaction considerably. The other kind of co-occurring atomic contact is the co-occurrence of a hydrophobic carbon contact and a contact between a hydrophobic carbon atom and a π ring. In fact, this co-occurrence signifies the collective effect of hydrophobic contacts. We also found that the B-factor measurements of several specific groups of amino acids are useful for the prediction of hot spots. Taking the B-factor, individual atomic contacts and the co-occurring contacts as features, we developed a new prediction method and thoroughly assessed its performance via cross-validation and independent dataset test. The results show that our method achieves higher prediction performance than well-known methods such as Robetta, FoldX and Hotpoint.We conclude that these contact descriptors, in particular the novel co-occurring atomic contacts, can be used to facilitate accurate and interpretable characterization of protein binding hot spots.
Liu, Q, Song, R & Li, J 2015, 'Inference of gene interaction networks using conserved subsequential patterns from multiple time course gene expression datasets', BMC Genomics, vol. 16, no. S12, pp. 1-16.
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© 2015 Liu et al. Motivation: Deciphering gene interaction networks (GINs) from time-course gene expression (TCGx) data is highly valuable to understand gene behaviors (e.g., activation, inhibition, time-lagged causality) at the system level. Existing methods usually use a global or local proximity measure to infer GINs from a single dataset. As the noise contained in a single data set is hardly self-resolved, the results are sometimes not reliable. Also, these proximity measurements cannot handle the co-existence of the various in vivo positive, negative and time-lagged gene interactions. Methods and results: We propose to infer reliable GINs from multiple TCGx datasets using a novel conserved subsequential pattern of gene expression. A subsequential pattern is a maximal subset of genes sharing positive, negative or time-lagged correlations of one expression template on their own subsets of time points. Based on these patterns, a GIN can be built from each of the datasets. It is assumed that reliable gene interactions would be detected repeatedly. We thus use conserved gene pairs from the individual GINs of the multiple TCGx datasets to construct a reliable GIN for a species. We apply our method on six TCGx datasets related to yeast cell cycle, and validate the reliable GINs using protein interaction networks, biopathways and transcription factor-gene regulations. We also compare the reliable GINs with those GINs reconstructed by a global proximity measure Pearson correlation coefficient method from single datasets. It has been demonstrated that our reliable GINs achieve much better prediction performance especially with much higher precision. The functional enrichment analysis also suggests that gene sets in a reliable GIN are more functionally significant. Our method is especially useful to decipher GINs from multiple TCGx datasets related to less studied organisms where little knowledge is available except gene expression data.
Liu, W, Jia, S, Li, P, Chen, X, Yang, J & Wu, Q 2015, 'An MRF-Based Depth Upsampling: Upsample the Depth Map With Its Own Property', IEEE Signal Processing Letters, vol. 22, no. 10, pp. 1708-1712.
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Liu, W, Xue, H, Yu, Z, Wu, Q & Yang, J 2015, 'RGB-D depth-map restoration using smooth depth neighborhood supports', Journal of Electronic Imaging, vol. 24, no. 3, pp. 033015-033015.
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Liu, Y & Ni, B-J 2015, 'Appropriate Fe (II) Addition Significantly Enhances Anaerobic Ammonium Oxidation (Anammox) Activity through Improving the Bacterial Growth Rate', Scientific Reports, vol. 5, no. 1, p. 8204.
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AbstractThe application of anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox) process is often limited by the slow growth rate of Anammox bacteria. As the essential substrate element that required for culturing Anammox sludge, Fe (II) is expected to affect Anammox bacterial growth. This work systematically studied the effects of Fe (II) addition on Anammox activity based on the kinetic analysis of specific growth rate using data from batch tests with an enriched Anammox sludge at different dosing levels. Results clearly demonstrated that appropriate Fe (II) dosing (i.e., 0.09 mM) significantly enhanced the specific Anammox growth rate up to 0.172 d−1 compared to 0.118 d−1 at regular Fe (II) level (0.03 mM). The relationship between Fe (II) concentration and specific Anammox growth rate was found to be well described by typical substrate inhibition kinetics, which was integrated into currently well-established Anammox model to describe the enhanced Anammox growth with Fe (II) addition. The validity of the integrated Anammox model was verified using long-term experimental data from three independent Anammox reactors with different Fe (II) dosing levels. This Fe (II)-based approach could be potentially implemented to enhance the process rate for possible mainstream application of Anammox technology, in order for an energy autarchic wastewater treatment.
Liu, Y, Luo, X & Xuan, J 2015, 'Online hot event discovery based on Association Link Network.', Concurr. Comput. Pract. Exp., vol. 27, no. 15, pp. 4001-4014.
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Liu, Y, Ni, B-J, Ganigué, R, Werner, U, Sharma, KR & Yuan, Z 2015, 'Sulfide and methane production in sewer sediments', Water Research, vol. 70, pp. 350-359.
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Recent studies have demonstrated significant sulfide and methane production by sewer biofilms, particularly in rising mains. Sewer sediments in gravity sewers are also biologically active; however, their contribution to biological transformations in sewers is poorly understood at present. In this study, sediments collected from a gravity sewer were cultivated in a laboratory reactor fed with real wastewater for more than one year to obtain intact sediments. Batch test results show significant sulfide production with an average rate of 9.20 ± 0.39 g S/m(2)·d from the sediments, which is significantly higher than the areal rate of sewer biofilms. In contrast, the average methane production rate is 1.56 ± 0.14 g CH4/m(2)·d at 20 °C, which is comparable to the areal rate of sewer biofilms. These results clearly show that the contributions of sewer sediments to sulfide and methane production cannot be ignored when evaluating sewer emissions. Microsensor and pore water measurements of sulfide, sulfate and methane in the sediments, microbial profiling along the depth of the sediments and mathematical modelling reveal that sulfide production takes place near the sediment surface due to the limited penetration of sulfate. In comparison, methane production occurs in a much deeper zone below the surface likely due to the better penetration of soluble organic carbon. Modelling results illustrate the dependency of sulfide and methane productions on the bulk sulfate and soluble organic carbon concentrations can be well described with half-order kinetics.
Liu, Y, Ni, B-J, Sharma, KR & Yuan, Z 2015, 'Methane emission from sewers', Science of The Total Environment, vol. 524-525, pp. 40-51.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Recent studies have shown that sewer systems produce and emit a significant amount of methane. Methanogens produce methane under anaerobic conditions in sewer biofilms and sediments, and the stratification of methanogens and sulfate-reducing bacteria may explain the simultaneous production of methane and sulfide in sewers. No significant methane sinks or methanotrophic activities have been identified in sewers to date. Therefore, most of the methane would be emitted at the interface between sewage and atmosphere in gravity sewers, pumping stations, and inlets of wastewater treatment plants, although oxidation of methane in the aeration basin of a wastewater treatment plant has been reported recently. Online measurements have also revealed highly dynamic temporal and spatial variations in methane production caused by factors such as hydraulic retention time, area-to-volume ratio, temperature, and concentration of organic matter in sewage. Both mechanistic and empirical models have been proposed to predict methane production in sewers. Due to the sensitivity of methanogens to environmental conditions, most of the chemicals effective in controlling sulfide in sewers also suppress or diminish methane production. In this paper, we review the recent studies on methane emission from sewers, including the production mechanisms, quantification, modeling, and mitigation.
Liu, Y, Pan, Y, Wang, Q & Huang, D 2015, 'Statistical process monitoring with integration of data projection and one-class classification', Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, vol. 149, pp. 1-11.
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Liu, Y, Peng, L, Chen, X & Ni, B-J 2015, 'Mathematical Modeling of Nitrous Oxide Production during Denitrifying Phosphorus Removal Process', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 49, no. 14, pp. 8595-8601.
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© 2015 American Chemical Society. A denitrifying phosphorus removal process undergoes frequent alternating anaerobic/anoxic conditions to achieve phosphate release and uptake, during which microbial internal storage polymers (e.g., Polyhydroxyalkanoate (PHA)) could be produced and consumed dynamically. The PHA turnovers play important roles in nitrous oxide (N2O) accumulation during the denitrifying phosphorus removal process. In this work, a mathematical model is developed to describe N2O dynamics and the key role of PHA consumption on N2O accumulation during the denitrifying phosphorus removal process for the first time. In this model, the four-step anoxic storage of polyphosphate and four-step anoxic growth on PHA using nitrate, nitrite, nitric oxide (NO), and N2O consecutively by denitrifying polyphosphate accumulating organisms (DPAOs) are taken into account for describing all potential N2O accumulation steps in the denitrifying phosphorus removal process. The developed model is successfully applied to reproduce experimental data on N2O production obtained from four independent denitrifying phosphorus removal study reports with different experimental conditions. The model satisfactorily describes the N2O accumulation, nitrogen reduction, phosphate release and uptake, and PHA dynamics for all systems, suggesting the validity and applicability of the model. The results indicated a substantial role of PHA consumption in N2O accumulation due to the relatively low N2O reduction rate by using PHA during denitrifying phosphorus removal.
Liu, Y, Peng, L, Gao, S-H, Dai, X & Ni, B-J 2015, 'Mathematical modeling of microbial extracellular electron transfer by electrically active microorganisms', Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, vol. 1, no. 6, pp. 747-752.
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A new mathematical model was proposed to describe the extracellular electron transfer process by electrically active microorganisms.
Liu, Y, Peng, L, Guo, J, Chen, X, Yuan, Z & Ni, B-J 2015, 'Evaluating the Role of Microbial Internal Storage Turnover on Nitrous Oxide Accumulation During Denitrification', Scientific Reports, vol. 5, no. 1.
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AbstractBiological wastewater treatment processes under a dynamic regime with respect to carbon substrate can result in microbial storage of internal polymers (e.g., polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB)) and their subsequent utilizations. These storage turnovers play important roles in nitrous oxide (N2O) accumulation during heterotrophic denitrification in biological wastewater treatment. In this work, a mathematical model is developed to evaluate the key role of PHB storage turnovers on N2O accumulation during denitrification for the first time, aiming to establish the key relationship between N2O accumulation and PHB storage production. The model is successfully calibrated and validated using N2O data from two independent experimental systems with PHB storage turnovers. The model satisfactorily describes nitrogen reductions, PHB storage/utilization and N2O accumulation from both systems. The results reveal a linear relationship between N2O accumulation and PHB production, suggesting a substantial effect of PHB storage on N2O accumulation during denitrification. Application of the model to simulate long-term operations of a denitrifying sequencing batch reactor and a denitrifying continuous system indicates the feeding pattern and sludge retention time would alter PHB turnovers and thus affect N2O accumulation. Increasing PHB utilization could substantially raise N2O accumulation due to the relatively low N2O reduction rate when using PHB as carbon source.
Liu, Y, Sharma, KR, Ni, B-J, Fan, L, Murthy, S, Tyson, GQ & Yuan, Z 2015, 'Effects of nitrate dosing on sulfidogenic and methanogenic activities in sewer sediment', Water Research, vol. 74, pp. 155-165.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Nitrate dosing is widely used to control sulfide and methane formation in sewers. The impact of nitrate on sulfide and methane production by sewer biofilms in rising mains has been elucidated recently. However, little is known about the effect of nitrate on biologically active sewer sediment, which is substantially thicker than rising main biofilms (centimeters vs. hundreds of micrometers, respectively). In this study, we investigated the effect of nitrate addition to sewer sediment cultivated in lab-scale sewer sediment reactors. Batch test results showed that nitrate addition does not suppress sulfide production in sewer sediment, but it reduces sulfide accumulation through anoxic sulfide oxidation in the sediment and hence, also reduces sulfide accumulation in the bulk water. Microsensor measurement of sediment sulfide revealed the presence of sulfide oxidation and sulfide production zones with the interface dynamically regulated by the depth of nitrate penetration. In contrast, the methane production activity of sewer sediment was substantially reduced, likely due to the long-term inhibitory effects of nitrate on methanogens. Pore water measurements showed that methane production activity in the sediment zone with frequent nitrate exposure was completely suppressed, and consequently, the methane production zone re-established deeper in the sediment where nitrate penetration was infrequent.
Liu, Y, Wang, Q, Zhang, Y & Ni, B-J 2015, 'Zero Valent Iron Significantly Enhances Methane Production from Waste Activated Sludge by Improving Biochemical Methane Potential Rather Than Hydrolysis Rate', Scientific Reports, vol. 5, no. 1, p. 8263.
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AbstractAnaerobic digestion has been widely applied for waste activated sludge (WAS) treatment. However, methane production from anaerobic digestion of WAS is usually limited by the slow hydrolysis rate and/or poor biochemical methane potential of WAS. This work systematically studied the effects of three different types of zero valent iron (i.e., iron powder, clean scrap and rusty scrap) on methane production from WAS in anaerobic digestion, by using both experimental and mathematical approaches. The results demonstrated that both the clean and the rusty iron scrap were more effective than the iron powder for improving methane production from WAS. Model-based analysis showed that ZVI addition significantly enhanced methane production from WAS through improving the biochemical methane potential of WAS rather than its hydrolysis rate. Economic analysis indicated that the ZVI-based technology for enhancing methane production from WAS is economically attractive, particularly considering that iron scrap can be freely acquired from industrial waste. Based on these results, the ZVI-based anaerobic digestion process of this work could be easily integrated with the conventional chemical phosphorus removal process in wastewater treatment plant to form a cost-effective and environment-friendly approach, enabling maximum resource recovery/reuse while achieving enhanced methane production in wastewater treatment system.
Liu, Y, Zhang, Y & Ni, B-J 2015, 'Evaluating Enhanced Sulfate Reduction and Optimized Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA) Composition in Anaerobic Reactor by Fe (III) Addition', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 49, no. 4, pp. 2123-2131.
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© 2015 American Chemical Society. Anaerobic reactors with ferric iron addition have been experimentally demonstrated to be able to simultaneously improve sulfate reduction and organic matter degradation during sulfate-containing wastewater treatment. In this work, a mathematical model is developed to evaluate the impact of ferric iron addition on sulfate reduction and organic carbon removal as well as the volatile fatty acids (VFA) composition in anaerobic reactor. The model is successfully calibrated and validated using independent long-term experimental data sets from the anaerobic reactor with Fe (III) addition under different operational conditions. The model satisfactorily describes the sulfate reduction, organic carbon removal and VFA production. Results show Fe (III) addition induces the microbial reduction of Fe (III) by iron reducing bacteria (IRB), which significantly enhances sulfate reduction by sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) and subsequently changes the VFA composition to acetate-dominating effluent. Simultaneously, the produced Fe (II) from IRB can alleviate the inhibition of undissociated H2S on microorganisms through iron sulfide precipitation, resulting in further improvement of the performance. In addition, the enhancement on reactor performance by Fe (III) is found to be more significantly favored at relatively low organic carbon/SO42- ratio (e.g., 1.0) than at high organic carbon/SO42- ratio (e.g., 4.5). The Fe (III)-based process of this work can be easily integrated with a commonly used strategy for phosphorus recovery, with the produced sulfide being recovered and then deposited into conventional chemical phosphorus removal sludge (FePO4) to achieve FeS precipitation for phosphorus recovery while the required Fe (III) being acquired from the waste ferric sludge of drinking water treatment process, to enable maximum resource recovery/reuse while achieving high-rate ...
Liu, Y, Zhang, Y & Ni, B-J 2015, 'Zero valent iron simultaneously enhances methane production and sulfate reduction in anaerobic granular sludge reactors', Water Research, vol. 75, pp. 292-300.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. Zero valent iron (ZVI) packed anaerobic granular sludge reactors have been developed for improved anaerobic wastewater treatment. In this work, a mathematical model is developed to describe the enhanced methane production and sulfate reduction in anaerobic granular sludge reactors with the addition of ZVI. The model is successfully calibrated and validated using long-term experimental data sets from two independent ZVI-enhanced anaerobic granular sludge reactors with different operational conditions. The model satisfactorily describes the chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal, sulfate reduction and methane production data from both systems. Results show ZVI directly promotes propionate degradation and methanogenesis to enhance methane production. Simultaneously, ZVI alleviates the inhibition of un-dissociated H2S on acetogens, methanogens and sulfate reducing bacteria (SRB) through buffering pH (Fe0+2H+=Fe2++H2) and iron sulfide precipitation, which improve the sulfate reduction capacity, especially under deterioration conditions. In addition, the enhancement of ZVI on methane production and sulfate reduction occurs mainly at relatively low COD/SO42- ratio (e.g., 2-4.5) rather than high COD/SO42- ratio (e.g., 16.7) compared to the reactor without ZVI addition. The model proposed in this work is expected to provide support for further development of a more efficient ZVI-based anaerobic granular system.
Liu, Z, Liang, J & Wu, C 2015, 'Dynamic Green׳s function for a three-dimensional concentrated load in the interior of a poroelastic layered half-space using a modified stiffness matrix method', Engineering Analysis with Boundary Elements, vol. 60, pp. 51-66.
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Liu, Z, Zhang, Z, Wu, Q & Wang, Y 2015, 'Enhancing person re-identification by integrating gait biometric', Neurocomputing, vol. 168, pp. 1144-1156.
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Person re-identification is an important problem for associating behavior of people monitored in surveillance camera networks. The fundamental challenges of person re-identification are the large appearance distortions caused by view angles, illumination and occlusions. To address these challenges, a method is proposed in this paper to enhance person re-identification by integrating gait biometric. The proposed framework consists of the hierarchical feature extraction and descriptor matching with learned metric matrices. Considering the appearance feature is not discriminative in some cases, the feature in this work composes of the appearance features and the gait feature for shape and temporal information. In order to solve the view-angle change problem and measuring similarity, data are mapped into a metric space so that distances between people can be measured more accurately. Then two fusion strategies are adopted. The score-level fusion computes distances on the appearance feature and the gait feature, respectively, and combine them as the final distance between samples. The feature-level fusion firstly installs two types of features in series and then computes distances by the fused feature. Finally, our method is tested on the CASIA gait dataset. Experiments show that integrating gait biometric is an effective way to enhance person re-identification.
Llopis-Albert, C, Merigó, JM & Palacios-Marqués, D 2015, 'Structure Adaptation in Stochastic Inverse Methods for Integrating Information', Water Resources Management, vol. 29, no. 1, pp. 95-107.
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Loads, B, Li, J, Wu, C & Hao, G 2015, 'Residual Loading Capacity of Ultra-High Performance Concrete Columns After', International Journal of Protective Structures, vol. 6, no. 4, pp. 649-669.
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Columns are essential load carrying structural components and may experience accidental loads such as terrorist bombing attacks during their service life. Damages to columns may trigger structural collapse and it is therefore very important to protect critical load-carrying columns. In recent studies, a novel ultra-high performance concrete (UHPC) material was developed and static loading test results revealed its outstanding mechanical strengths and ductility. The present study investigates the blast load-carrying capacities of columns made of UHPC. Concrete columns built with UHPC were blast tested in the field first; then brought back to laboratory and subjected to static load tests to determine their residual load-carrying capacities after experiencing varying levels of blast damage. The results from the field blast tests and laboratory static load tests for residual load-carrying capacities are presented and discussed in this paper. Numerical models for simulating responses and residual strengths of the UHPC columns after blast loadings are also developed in commercial hydro-code LS-DYNA and presented in the paper. Comparisons between the test data and numerical results are made and the accuracy of the numerical model is validated.
Lotfi, F, Phuntsho, S, Majeed, T, Kim, K, Han, DS, Abdel-Wahab, A & Shon, HK 2015, 'Thin film composite hollow fibre forward osmosis membrane module for the desalination of brackish groundwater for fertigation', DESALINATION, vol. 364, pp. 108-118.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. The performance of recently developed polyamide thin film composite hollow fibre forward osmosis (HFFO) membrane module was assessed for the desalination of brackish groundwater for fertigation. Four different fertilisers were used as draw solution (DS) with real BGW from the Murray-Darling Basin in Australia. Membrane charge and its electrostatic interactions with ions played a significant role in the performance of the HFFO module using fertiliser as DS. Negatively charged polyamide layer promotes sorption of multivalent cations such as Ca2+ enhancing ion flux and membrane scaling. Inorganic scaling occurred both on active layer and inside the support layer depending on the types of fertiliser DS used resulting in severe flux decline and this study therefore underscores the importance of selecting suitable fertilisers for the fertiliser drawn forward osmosis (FDFO) process. Water flux under active layer DS membrane orientation was about twice as high as the other orientation indicating the need to further optimise the membrane support structure formation. Water flux slightly improved at higher crossflow rates due to enhanced mass transfer on the fibre lumen side. At 45% packing density, HFFO could have three times more membrane area and four times more volumetric flux output for an equivalent 8040 cellulose triacetate flat-sheet FO membrane module.
Lu, D, Xin, T, Yu, N, Ji, Z, Chen, J, Long, G, Baugh, J, Peng, X, Zeng, B & Laflamme, R 2015, 'Tomography is necessary for universal entanglement detection with single-copy observables', Phys. Rev. Lett., vol. 116, no. 23, p. 230501.
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Entanglement, one of the central mysteries of quantum mechanics, plays anessential role in numerous applications of quantum information theory. Anatural question of both theoretical and experimental importance is whetheruniversal entanglement detection is possible without full state tomography. Inthis work, we prove a no-go theorem that rules out this possibility for anynon-adaptive schemes that employ single-copy measurements only. We also examinein detail a previously implemented experiment, which claimed to detectentanglement of two-qubit states via adaptive single-copy measurements withoutfull state tomography. By performing the experiment and analyzing the data, wedemonstrate that the information gathered is indeed sufficient to reconstructthe state. These results reveal a fundamental limit for single-copymeasurements in entanglement detection, and provides a general framework tostudy the detection of other interesting properties of quantum states, such asthe positivity of partial transpose and the $k$-symmetric extendibility.
Lu, DDC, Iu, HHC & Pjevalica, V 2015, 'Single-stage near-unity power factor AC/DC converter with both regulated bus and output voltages', International Journal of Electronics Letters, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 77-86.
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© 2014 Taylor & Francis. Recently a single-stage AC/DC converter configuration which combines a boost power factor correction (PFC) circuit with a two-transistor DC/DC converter is presented. The converter achieves high power factor (PF), bus voltage regulation and output voltage regulation simultaneously that are hardly achieved in conventional single-stage power-factor-corrected (S2PFC) converters. The converter is also able to work in stand-by mode to reduce power loss. To improve the converter performance further, this letter introduces a dual current-mode pulse-width modulation controller for this converter configuration to optimise the PF. Experimental results of a 24 VDC/100 W hardware prototype on a boost converter integrated with a two-switch forward converter are presented. The measured PF is above 0.99 at full load. The conversion efficiency is above 87% throughout the entire input AC line voltage range (100–240) Vrms and output load range (0.5–4.5) A.
Lu, J, Behbood, V, Hao, P, Zuo, H, Xue, S & Zhang, G 2015, 'Transfer learning using computational intelligence: A survey', KNOWLEDGE-BASED SYSTEMS, vol. 80, pp. 14-23.
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Transfer learning aims to provide a framework to utilize previously-acquired knowledge to solve new but similar problems much more quickly and effectively. In contrast to classical machine learning methods, transfer learning methods exploit the knowledge accumulated from data in auxiliary domains to facilitate predictive modeling consisting of different data patterns in the current domain. To improve the performance of existing transfer learning methods and handle the knowledge transfer process in real-world systems, computational intelligence has recently been applied in transfer learning. This paper systematically examines computational intelligence-based transfer learning techniques and clusters related technique developments into four main categories: (a) neural network-based transfer learning; (b) Bayes-based transfer learning; (c) fuzzy transfer learning, and (d) applications of computational intelligence-based transfer learning. By providing state-of-the-art knowledge, this survey will directly support researchers and practice-based professionals to understand the developments in computational intelligence-based transfer learning research and applications.
Lu, J, Wu, D, Mao, M, Wang, W & Zhang, G 2015, 'Recommender system application developments: A survey', DECISION SUPPORT SYSTEMS, vol. 74, pp. 12-32.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. A recommender system aims to provide users with personalized online product or service recommendations to handle the increasing online information overload problem and improve customer relationship management. Various recommender system techniques have been proposed since the mid-1990s, and many sorts of recommender system software have been developed recently for a variety of applications. Researchers and managers recognize that recommender systems offer great opportunities and challenges for business, government, education, and other domains, with more recent successful developments of recommender systems for real-world applications becoming apparent. It is thus vital that a high quality, instructive review of current trends should be conducted, not only of the theoretical research results but more importantly of the practical developments in recommender systems. This paper therefore reviews up-to-date application developments of recommender systems, clusters their applications into eight main categories: e-government, e-business, e-commerce/e-shopping, e-library, e-learning, e-tourism, e-resource services and e-group activities, and summarizes the related recommendation techniques used in each category. It systematically examines the reported recommender systems through four dimensions: recommendation methods (such as CF), recommender systems software (such as BizSeeker), real-world application domains (such as e-business) and application platforms (such as mobile-based platforms). Some significant new topics are identified and listed as new directions. By providing a state-of-the-art knowledge, this survey will directly support researchers and practical professionals in their understanding of developments in recommender system applications.
Lu, J, Zheng, Z, Zhang, G, He, Q & Shi, Z 2015, 'A new solution algorithm for solving rule-sets based bilevel decision problems', CONCURRENCY AND COMPUTATION-PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE, vol. 27, no. 4, pp. 830-854.
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Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Bilevel decision addresses compromises between two interacting decision entities within a given hierarchical complex system under distributed environments. Bilevel programming typically solves bilevel decision problems. However, formulation of objectives and constraints in mathematical functions is required, which are difficult, and sometimes impossible, in real-world situations because of various uncertainties. Our study develops a rule-set based bilevel decision approach, which models a bilevel decision problem by creating, transforming and reducing related rule sets. This study develops a new rule-sets based solution algorithm to obtain an optimal solution from the bilevel decision problem described by rule sets. A case study and a set of experiments illustrate both functions and the effectiveness of the developed algorithm in solving a bilevel decision problem.
Lu, M, Wang, S, Sloan, SW, Indraratna, B & Xie, K 2015, 'Nonlinear radial consolidation of vertical drains under a general time‐variable loading', International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, vol. 39, no. 1, pp. 51-62.
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SUMMARYBy incorporating the nonlinear variation of a soil's compressibility and permeability during the process of consolidation, an analytical solution for the radial consolidation of vertical drains has been developed for a general time‐variable loading. The general solution was verified for the cases of instantaneous loading and ramp loading. Detailed solutions were further derived for two special loading schemes: multistage loading and preloading–unloading–reloading. The nonlinear consolidation behavior of a vertical drain subjected to these two types of loading schemes was then investigated by a parametric study. The results show that the loading rate, the ratio of the compressibility index to the permeability index (Cc/Ck), and the initial stress state have a significant influence on the consolidation rate. A smaller value of Cc/Ck, a larger initial stress, or a fast loading rate always leads to a rapid consolidation rate. During the unloading period, a negative excess pore water pressure may occur, and a slower unloading rate may reduce this negative value. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Lu, M, Wang, S, Sloan, SW, Sheng, D & Xie, K 2015, 'Nonlinear consolidation of vertical drains with coupled radial–vertical flow considering well resistance', Geotextiles and Geomembranes, vol. 43, no. 2, pp. 182-189.
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Lu, X, Nejati, S, Choo, Y, Osuji, CO, Ma, J & Elimelech, M 2015, 'Elements Provide a Clue: Nanoscale Characterization of Thin-Film Composite Polyamide Membranes', ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, vol. 7, no. 31, pp. 16917-16922.
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Lu, Z, Roohani-Esfahani, S-I, Li, J & Zreiqat, H 2015, 'Synergistic effect of nanomaterials and BMP-2 signalling in inducing osteogenic differentiation of adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells', Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine, vol. 11, no. 1, pp. 219-228.
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The lack of complete understanding in the signalling pathways that control the osteogenic differentiation of mesenchymal stem cells hinders their clinical application in the reconstruction of large bone defects and non-union bone fractures. The aim of this study is to gain insight into the interactions of bone morphogenetic protein-2 (BMP-2) and bone biomimetic scaffolds in directing osteogenic differentiation of adipose tissue-derived mesenchymal stem cells (ASCs) and the underlying signalling pathways involved. We demonstrated that bioactive glass nanoparticles (nBG) incorporated polycaprolactone (PCL) coating on hydroxyapatite/β-tricalcium phosphate (HA/TCP) scaffold exerted a synergistic effect with 3days of BMP-2 treatment in promoting osteogenic gene expression levels (Runx-2, collagen I, osteopontin and bone sialoprotein) and alkaline phosphatase activity in ASCs. Furthermore, we revealed that the synergistic effect was mediated through a mechanism of activating β1-integrin and induction of Wnt-3a autocrine signalling pathways by nBG incorporated scaffold.
Lukosch, S, Billinghurst, M, Alem, L & Kiyokawa, K 2015, 'Collaboration in Augmented Reality', COMPUTER SUPPORTED COOPERATIVE WORK-THE JOURNAL OF COLLABORATIVE COMPUTING, vol. 24, no. 6, pp. 515-525.
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© 2015, The Author(s). Augmented Reality (AR) is a technology that allows users to view and interact in real time with virtual images seamlessly superimposed over the real world. AR systems can be used to create unique collaborative experiences. For example, co-located users can see shared 3D virtual objects that they interact with, or a user can annotate the live video view of a remote worker, enabling them to collaborate at a distance. The overall goal is to augment the face-to-face collaborative experience, or to enable remote people to feel that they are virtually co-located. In this special issue on collaboration in augmented reality, we begin with the visions of science fiction authors of future technologies that might significantly improve collaboration, then introduce research articles which describe progress towards these visions, finally we outline a research agenda discussing the work still to be done.
Luo, F, Jiang, C, Du, J, Yuan, J, Ren, Y, Yu, S & Guizani, M 2015, 'A Distributed Gateway Selection Algorithm for UAV Networks', IEEE Transactions on Emerging Topics in Computing, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 22-33.
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Luo, L, Jiang, Z, Wei, D, Manabe, K-I, Sato, H, He, X & Li, P 2015, 'An experimental and numerical study of micro deep drawing of SUS304 circular cups', Manufacturing Review, vol. 2, pp. 27-27.
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© L. Luo et al., published by EDP Sciences, 2015. Micro deep drawing is a promising technology for mass production of complex 3D micro metal products. Significant size effects at a micro scale, however, obstruct application of this technology and block utilisation of traditional finite element method (FEM). Therefore, a micro tensile test system was developed to obtain accurate material properties considering size effects. Subsequently, a Voronoi blank model was developed for the micro scale simulation. Moreover, micro deep drawing experiments were conducted and their results were compared with the simulation results. The simulation results have a good agreement with the experimental data. Furthermore, the wrinkling at the cup mouth increases with the growth of grain sizes on the SUS304 sheets.
Luo, Q & Tong, L 2015, 'Design and testing for shape control of piezoelectric structures using topology optimization', Engineering Structures, vol. 97, pp. 90-104.
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Luo, Q & Tong, L 2015, 'Optimal Designs for Vibrating Structures Using a Moving Isosurface Threshold Method With Experimental Study', Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, vol. 137, no. 6.
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This paper studies optimal designs for vibrating structures using a moving isosurface threshold method (MIST). In the present study, a combination of strain and kinetic energy densities is selected as a response function of natural frequency and then formulations to maximize a specific frequency, frequency separation, and average-mean are derived. An efficient algorithm is developed to find a moving isosurface threshold level for evolving the design boundary and updating the weighting factor. The present algorithm coupled with commercial finite element analysis (FEA) software is used to study optimal designs for vibrating structures. The obtained optimal designs are fabricated and the experimental tests are conducted to validate the optimal topologies.
Luo, Q & Tong, L 2015, 'Structural topology optimization for maximum linear buckling loads by using a moving iso-surface threshold method', Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization, vol. 52, no. 1, pp. 71-90.
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Luo, W, Hai, FI, Kang, J, Price, WE, Guo, W, Ngo, HH, Yamamoto, K & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Effects of salinity build-up on biomass characteristics and trace organic chemical removal: Implications on the development of high retention membrane bioreactors', Bioresource Technology, vol. 177, pp. 274-281.
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Luo, W, Hai, FI, Kang, J, Price, WE, Nghiem, LD & Elimelech, M 2015, 'The role of forward osmosis and microfiltration in an integrated osmotic-microfiltration membrane bioreactor system', Chemosphere, vol. 136, pp. 125-132.
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Luo, W, Hai, FI, Price, WE & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Water extraction from mixed liquor of an aerobic bioreactor by forward osmosis: Membrane fouling and biomass characteristics assessment', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 145, pp. 56-62.
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Luo, Y, Jiang, Q, Ngo, HH, Nghiem, LD, Hai, FI, Price, WE, Wang, J & Guo, W 2015, 'Evaluation of micropollutant removal and fouling reduction in a hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor–membrane bioreactor system', Bioresource Technology, vol. 191, pp. 355-359.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. A hybrid moving bed biofilm reactor-membrane bioreactor (MBBR-MBR) system and a conventional membrane bioreactor (CMBR) were compared in terms of micropollutant removal efficiency and membrane fouling propensity. The results show that the hybrid MBBR-MBR system could effectively remove most of the selected micropollutants. By contrast, the CMBR system showed lower removals of ketoprofen, carbamazepine, primidone, bisphenol A and estriol by 16.2%, 30.1%, 31.9%, 34.5%, and 39.9%, respectively. Mass balance calculations suggest that biological degradation was the primary removal mechanism in the MBBR-MBR system. During operation, the MBBR-MBR system exhibited significantly slower fouling development as compared to the CMBR system, which could be ascribed to the wide disparity in the soluble microbial products (SMP) levels between MBBR-MBR (4.02-6.32. mg/L) and CMBR (21.78 and 33.04. mg/L). It is evident that adding an MBBR process prior to MBR treatment can not only enhance micropollutant elimination but also mitigate membrane fouling.
Ma, HF, Hu, S, Ma, YG, Lai, Y & Esselle, K 2015, 'The Applications of Metamaterials', International Journal of Antennas and Propagation, vol. 2015, pp. 1-2.
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Ma, J, Fan, F, Wu, C & Zhi, X 2015, 'Counter-intuitive collapse of single-layer reticulated domes subject to interior blast loading', Thin-Walled Structures, vol. 96, pp. 130-138.
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Ma, Q, Luo, X, Xuan, J & Liu, H 2015, 'Bayesian Based Type Discrimination of Web Events.', J. Web Eng., vol. 14, no. 5-6, pp. 525-544.
Maerz, NH, Youssef, AM, Pradhan, B & Bulkhi, A 2015, 'Remediation and mitigation strategies for rock fall hazards along the highways of Fayfa Mountain, Jazan Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 8, no. 5, pp. 2633-2651.
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Majeed, T, Lotfi, F, Phuntsho, S, Yoon, JK, Kim, K & Shon, HK 2015, 'Performances of PA hollow fiber membrane with the CTA flat sheet membrane for forward osmosis process', DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, vol. 53, no. 7, pp. 1744-1754.
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© 2013, © 2013 Balaban Desalination Publications. All rights reserved. Abstract: Fertilizer drawn forward osmosis desalination has been earlier explored using flat sheet forward osmosis (FSFO) membrane, which highlighted flux and reverse solute flux (RSF) performance. This study evaluated and compared the performances of a newly developed polyamide (PA)-based hollow fiber forward osmosis (HFFO) membrane and cellulose triacetate FSFO membrane. Both membranes were evaluated for pure water permeability, salt rejection rate (1,000 mg/L NaCl) in RO mode. Physical structure and morphology were further examined using scanning electron micrograph (SEM). SEM images revealed that the overall thickness of the HFFO and FSFO membranes was 152 and 91 μm, respectively. Flux and RSF performances of these two membranes were evaluated using nine fertilizer DS as NH4Cl, KNO3, KCl, (NH4)2SO4, Ca(NO3)2, NH4H2PO4, (NH4)2HPO4, NaNO3, and CO(NH2)2 in active layer–feed solution membrane orientation. HFFO membrane clearly showed better performance for water flux with five DS ((NH4)2SO4, NH4H2PO4, KNO3, CO(NH2)2, and NaNO3) as they showed up to 66% increase in flux. Beside thick PA active layer of HFFO membrane, higher water flux outcome for forward osmosis (FO) process further highlighted the significance of the nature of support layer structure, the thickness and surface chemistry of the active layer of the membrane in the FO process. On the other hand, most DS showed lower RSF with HFFO membrane with the exception of Ca(NO3)2. Most of DS having monovalent cation and anions showed significantly lower RSF with HFFO membrane.
Majeed, T, Phuntsho, S, Sahebi, S, Kim, JE, Yoon, JK, Kim, K & Shon, HK 2015, 'Influence of the process parameters on hollow fiber-forward osmosis membrane performances', DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, vol. 54, no. 4-5, pp. 817-828.
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Continued efforts are made in improving the performance of the low-cost forward osmosis (FO) membrane process which utilizes naturally available osmotic pressure of the draw solution (DS) as the driving force. Selection of a suitable DS and development of a better performing membrane remained the main research focus. In this study, the performance of a hollow fiber forward osmosis (HFFO) membrane was evaluated with respect to various operating conditions such as different cross-flow directions, membrane orientation, solution properties, and solution flow rates (Reynolds number). The study observed that operating parameters significantly affect the performance of the FO process. FO comparatively showed better performance at counter-current orientation. NaCl, KCl, and NH4Cl were evaluated as DS carrying common anion. Properties of the anionic part of the DS were found important for flux outcome, whereas reverse solute flux (RSF) was largely influenced by the properties of DS cationic part. FO was operated at different DS and feed solution (FS) flow rates and FO outcome was assessed for varying DS and FS Reynolds number ratio. FO showed better flux outcome as Re ratio for DS and FS decreases and vice versa. Results indicated that by adjusting FO processes conditions, HFFO membrane could achieve significantly lower specific RSF and higher water flux outcome. It was observed that using 2 M NaCl as DS and deionized water as FS, HFFO successfully delivered flux of 62.9 LMH which is significantly high compared to many FO membranes reported in the literature under the active layer-DS membrane orientation mode.
Majeed, T, Sahebi, S, Lotfi, F, Kim, JE, Phuntsho, S, Tijing, LD & Shon, HK 2015, 'Fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis for irrigation of tomatoes', DESALINATION AND WATER TREATMENT, vol. 53, no. 10, pp. 2746-2759.
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Fertilizer-drawn forward osmosis is a low-energy desalination concept particularly developed for the irrigation use of desalinated water. It has an advantage of not requiring regeneration of the draw solution (DS), thus, it can be used directly for the purpose of irrigation without any additional treatment. The current study was aimed to evaluate the real application of forward osmosis (FO) targeting irrigation of tomato crops based from their fertilizer requirements. Fertilizer-DSs were prepared to drive seawater desalination using commercially available fertilizers such as NH4NO3, NH4Cl, KNO3, KCl, NH4H2PO4, and urea. DSs were prepared to represent varying nitrogen:phosphorous:potassium (N:P:K) ratios used in assorted tomato growth stages. The FO performance evaluated in terms of the flux and reverse solute flux (RSF) showed significant variations in outcome. The resultant flux for different DSs was influenced by the particular fertilizer present in DS mixture and its concentration. This flux varied from 2.50 to 12.49 LMH. Comparatively, DS carrying high osmotic pressure components showed high-flux outcome. The fraction Jw/∆π of these fertilizer-DSs varied from 0.062 to 0.19 LMH/bar, which indicates a changing flux outcome against the same osmotic pressure. To select the best performing fertilizer-DS, nitrogen source fertilizers like urea, NH4NO3, and NH4Cl were further evaluated for 10-0-10 NPK value. It was found that NH4Cl-based DS mixtures performed better than urea- and NH4NO3-based DS. The RSF results indicated that all nitrogen- and potassium-based DS exhibited higher N- and K-RSF. However, the DS using NH4H2PO4 delivered extremely low P-RSF of 12.35 g/m2/h. Long-term run tests with seawater quality feed solution resulted in FO producing a final DS enriched in nutrients greater than the tomato plant’s requirement. This implies that the use of dilution or any other technique to reduce excessive nutrients is essential before using the final DS fo...
Makki Alamdari, M, Li, J & Samali, B 2015, 'Damage identification using 2-D discrete wavelet transform on extended operational mode shapes', Archives of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 698-710.
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Makki Alamdari, M, Samali, B & Li, J 2015, 'Damage localization based on symbolic time series analysis', Structural Control and Health Monitoring, vol. 22, no. 2, pp. 374-393.
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The objective of this paper is to localize damage in a single or multiple state at early stages of development on the basis of the principles of symbolic dynamics. Symbolic time series analysis (STSA) of noise-contaminated responses is used for feature extraction to detect and localize a gradually evolving deterioration in the structure according to the changes in the statistical behaviour of symbol sequences. Basically, in STSA, statistical features of the symbol sequence can be used to describe the dynamic status of the system. Symbolic dynamics has some useful characteristics making it highly demanded for implementation in real-time observation application such as SHM. First, it significantly reduces the dimension of information and provides information-rich representation of the underlying data. Second, symbolic dynamics and the set of statistical measures built upon it represent a solid framework to address the main challenges of the analysis of nonstationary time data. Finally, STSA often allows capturing the main features of the underlying system whilst alleviating the effects of harmful noise. The method presented in this paper consists of four primary steps: (i) acquisition of the time series data; (ii) creating the symbol space to produce symbol sequences on the basis of the wavelet transformed version of time series data; (iii) developing the symbol probability vectors to achieve anomaly measures; and (iv) localizing damage on the basis of any sudden variation in anomaly measure of different locations. The method was applied on a flexural beam and a 2-D planar truss bridge subjected to varying Gaussian excitation in presence of 2% white noise to examine the efficiency and limitations of the method. Simulation results under various damage conditions confirmed the efficiency of the proposed approach for localization of gradually evolving deterioration in the structure; however, for the future work, the method needs to be verified by experimental data.
maleki najafabadi, S, Soffianian, A, Rahdari, V, Amiri, F, Pradhan, B & Tabatabaei, T 2015, 'Geospatial modeling to identify the effects of anthropogenic processes on landscape pattern change and biodiversity', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 8, no. 3, pp. 1557-1569.
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Mandal, R, Roy, PP, Pal, U & Blumenstein, M 2015, 'Multi-lingual date field extraction for automatic document retrieval by machine', Information Sciences, vol. 314, pp. 277-292.
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© 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Robotic intelligence has recently received significant attention in the research community. Application of such artificial intelligence can be used to perform automatic document retrieval and interpretation by a robot through query. So, it is necessary to extract the key information from the document based on the query to produce the desired feedback. For this purpose, in this paper we propose a system for automatic date field extraction from multi-lingual (English, Devnagari and Bangla scripts) handwritten documents. The date is a key piece of information, which can be used in various robotic applications such as date-wise document indexing/retrieval. In order to design the system, first the script of the document is identified, and based on the identified script, word components of each text line are classified into month and non-month classes using word-level feature extraction and classification. Next, non-month words are segmented into individual components and labelled into one of text, digit, punctuation or contraction categories. Subsequently, the date patterns are searched using the labelled components. Both numeric and semi-numeric regular expressions have been used for date part extraction. Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) and profile feature-based approaches are used for classification of month/non-month words. Other date components such as numerals and punctuation marks are recognised using a gradient-based feature and Support Vector Machine (SVM) classifier. The experiments are performed on English, Devnagari and Bangla document datasets and the encouraging results obtained from the system indicate the effectiveness of the proposed system.
Marcias, G, Takayama, K, Pietroni, N, Panozzo, D, Sorkine-Hornung, O, Puppo, E & Cignoni, P 2015, 'Data-driven interactive quadrangulation.', ACM Trans. Graph., vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 65:1-65:1.
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We propose an interactive quadrangulation method based on a large collection of patterns that are learned from models manually designed by artists. The patterns are distilled into compact quadrangulation rules and stored in a database. At run-time, the user draws strokes to define patches and desired edge flows, and the system queries the database to extract fitting patterns to tessellate the sketches' interiors. The quadrangulation patterns are general and can be applied to tessellate large regions while controlling the positions of the singularities and the edge flow. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our algorithm through a series of live retopology sessions and an informal user study with three professional artists.
Mareishi, S, Kalhori, H, Rafiee, M & Hosseini, SM 2015, 'Nonlinear forced vibration response of smart two-phase nano-composite beams to external harmonic excitations', Curved and Layered Structures, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 150-161.
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Abstract This paper presents an analytical solution for nonlinear free and forced vibration response of smart laminated nano-composite beams resting on nonlinear elastic foundation and under external harmonic excitation. The structure is under a temperature change and an electric excitation through the piezoelectric layers. Different distribution patterns of the single walled aligned and straight carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) through the thickness of the beam are considered. The beam complies with Euler-Bernoulli beam theory and von Kármán geometric nonlinearity. The nonlinearity is due to the mid-plane stretching of the beam and the nonlinear stiffness of the elastic foundation. The Multiple Time Scales perturbation scheme is used to perform the nonlinear dynamical analysis of functionally graded carbon nanotube-reinforced beams. Analytical expressions of the nonlinear natural frequencies, nonlinear dynamic response and frequency response of the system in the case of primary resonance have been presented. The effects of different parameters including applied voltage, temperature change, beam geometry, the volume fraction and distribution pattern of the carbon nanotubes on the nonlinear natural frequencies and frequency-response curves are presented. It is found that the volume fractions of SWCNTs as well as their distribution pattern significantly change the behavior of the system.
Martín, F, Miró, JV & Moreno, L 2015, 'RGB-D DE-based Scan Matching: Exploiting Colour Properties in Registration', Journal of Intelligent & Robotic Systems, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 71-85.
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© 2014, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. Colour plays a fundamental role in the perception process of humans. In robotics, the exploitation of this type of information has become increasingly important in many different tasks. The development of new sensors has made it possible to obtain colour information together with depth information about the environment. We have recently developed a scan matching algorithm based on evolutionary concepts (Differential Evolution). The main objective of this work is to include colour properties in the registration process, studying how colour can be used to improve the scan matching process. In particular, we have designed a filter to extract the most significant points of a RGB-D scan based on the Delta E divergence between neighbours. In addition, colour properties have also been included in the fitness function of the scan matching method. Our approach has been tested in a real environment and the most significant conclusion is the improvement of the algorithm performance when measuring the valley of convergence.
Masum, BM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Palash, SM & Habibullah, M 2015, 'Effect of alcohol–gasoline blends optimization on fuel properties, performance and emissions of a SI engine', Journal of Cleaner Production, vol. 86, pp. 230-237.
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Matekovits, L, Kikkawa, T, Peter, I & Esselle, KP 2015, 'IEEE Access Special Section Editorial: Bio-Compatible Devices and Bio-Electromagnetics for Bio-Medical Applications', IEEE Access, vol. 3, pp. 3119-3121.
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Matekovits, L, Thalakotuna, D, Esselle, KP, Hay, SG & Heimlich, M 2015, 'EQUIVALENT-CIRCUIT MODELS FOR EFFICIENT TRANSMISSION AND DISPERSION ANALYSES OF MULTI-STATE PERIODIC STRUCTURES', Progress In Electromagnetics Research, vol. 153, pp. 93-102.
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Mathieson, L 2015, 'Graph Editing Problems with Extended Regularity Constraints', Theoretical Computer Science, vol. 677, pp. 56-68.
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Graph editing problems offer an interesting perspective on sub- andsupergraph identification problems for a large variety of target properties.They have also attracted significant attention in recent years, particularly inthe area of parameterized complexity as the problems have rich parameterecologies. In this paper we examine generalisations of the notion of editing a graph toobtain a regular subgraph. In particular we extend the notion of regularity toinclude two variants of edge-regularity along with the unifying constraint ofstrong regularity. We present a number of results, with the central observationthat these problems retain the general complexity profile of theirregularity-based inspiration: when the number of edits $k$ and the maximumdegree $r$ are taken together as a combined parameter, the problems aretractable (i.e. in \FPT{}), but are otherwise intractable. We also examine variants of the basic editing to obtain a regular subgraphproblem from the perspective of parameterizing by the treewidth of the inputgraph. In this case the treewidth of the input graph essentially becomes alimiting parameter on the natural $k+r$ parameterization.
Mazzolini, AP & Daniel, SA 2015, 'Improving students' understanding by using on-going education research to refine active learning activities in a first-year electronics course', Nuovo Cimento della Societa Italiana di Fisica C, vol. 38, no. 3.
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Interactive Lecture Demonstrations (ILDs) have been used across introductory university physics as a successful active learning (AL) strategy to improve students' conceptual understanding. We have developed ILDs for more complex topics in our first-year electronics course. In 2006 we began developing ILDs to improve students' conceptual understanding of Operational Amplifiers (OAs) and negative feedback in amplification circuits. The ILDs were used after traditional lecture instruction to help students consolidate their understanding. We developed a diagnostic test, to be administered to students both before and after the ILDs, as a measure of how effective the ILDs were in improving students' understanding.
McDonald, C & McGloin, D 2015, 'Bubble wrap for optical trapping and cell culturing', Biomedical Optics Express, vol. 6, no. 10, pp. 3757-3757.
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McDonald, C & McGloin, D 2015, 'Low-cost optical manipulation using hanging droplets of PDMS', RSC Advances, vol. 5, no. 68, pp. 55561-55565.
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A low-cost optical manipulation system is realised by using simple microfabricated PDMS components coupled to a smartphone camera for imaging.
McGloin, D 2015, 'Cellular lasers', Nature Photonics, vol. 9, no. 9, pp. 559-560.
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McKenzie, TG, Fu, Q, Wong, EHH, Dunstan, DE & Qiao, GG 2015, 'Visible Light Mediated Controlled Radical Polymerization in the Absence of Exogenous Radical Sources or Catalysts', Macromolecules, vol. 48, no. 12, pp. 3864-3872.
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McKenzie, TG, Wong, EHH, Fu, Q, Sulistio, A, Dunstan, DE & Qiao, GG 2015, 'Controlled Formation of Star Polymer Nanoparticles via Visible Light Photopolymerization', ACS Macro Letters, vol. 4, no. 9, pp. 1012-1016.
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McLaughlan, RG, Almabrok, MH & Vessalas, K 2015, 'Evaluating the effect of mixing method on the performance of mortar containing oil', International Journal of Engineering Science Invention, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 58-64.
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There is a vital need for managing oily materials resulting from the petroleum industry as theirtoxic and persistent nature threatens the environment. In view of oil waste remediation, current treatmenttechnologies are either cost prohibitive and/or the treated products have to be sent to landfill without anypotential end-use. Cement-based stabilisation/solidification of oil contaminated materials is an emergingmethod however there is limited knowledge in terms of the effect of the mixing method on the properties of theresultant cementitious mix. For this purpose, the water wet (WW) and oil wet (OW) protocol was devised to seeif the observed behaviour of the mortar was a function of the mixing method rather than the ingredients. Acement-based mortar incorporating a mineral oil addition of up to 10% of the aggregates mass was used. Theresults indicated that the mixing method has only a small effect on the fresh and hardened properties. Increasedoil content in the cement mortar was found to increase the flow and setting time whereas there was decreasedwet density and air content irrespective of the type of the mixing method used. The compressive strengthdecreased by 75% and 77% for water wet and oil wet respectively compared to the control at 28 days of age.The mixing method has a relatively small impact overall on the hydration process. The calorimetry resultsshowed that both mixing methods followed the same trend whereby the hydration is inhibited due to oilincorporation.
Menon, AK, Cai, C, Wang, W, Wen, T & Chen, F 2015, 'Fine-grained OD estimation with automated zoning and sparsity regularisation', Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, vol. 80, pp. 150-172.
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Merigó, JM, Engemann, KJ & Gil-Lafuente, AM 2015, 'Guest Editorial: Intelligent Systems in Business and Economics', Cybernetics and Systems, vol. 46, no. 3-4, pp. 145-149.
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Merigó, JM, Gil-Lafuente, AM & Yager, RR 2015, 'An overview of fuzzy research with bibliometric indicators', Applied Soft Computing, vol. 27, pp. 420-433.
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Merigó, JM, Guillén, M & Sarabia, JM 2015, 'The Ordered Weighted Average in the Variance and the Covariance', International Journal of Intelligent Systems, vol. 30, no. 9, pp. 985-1005.
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Merigó, JM, Mas-Tur, A, Roig-Tierno, N & Ribeiro-Soriano, D 2015, 'A bibliometric overview of the Journal of Business Research between 1973 and 2014', Journal of Business Research, vol. 68, no. 12, pp. 2645-2653.
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The Journal of Business Research is a leading international journal in business research dating back to 1973. This study analyzes all the publications in the journal since its creation by using a bibliometric approach. The objective is to provide a complete overview of the main factors that affect the journal. This analysis includes key issues such as the publication and citation structure of the journal, the most cited articles, and the leading authors, institutions, and countries in the journal. Unsurprisingly, the USA is the leading region in the journal although a considerable dispersion exists, especially during the last years when European and Asian universities are taking a more significant position.
Merigó, JM, Palacios-Marqués, D & del Mar Benavides-Espinosa, M 2015, 'Aggregation methods to calculate the average price', Journal of Business Research, vol. 68, no. 7, pp. 1574-1580.
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Merigó, JM, Palacios-Marqués, D & Ribeiro-Navarrete, B 2015, 'Aggregation systems for sales forecasting', Journal of Business Research, vol. 68, no. 11, pp. 2299-2304.
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Mi, N, Chen, Y, Wang, S, Chen, M, Zhao, M, Yang, G, Ma, M, Su, Q, Luo, S, Shi, J, Xu, J, Guo, Q, Gao, N, Sun, Y, Chen, Z & Yu, L 2015, 'CapZ regulates autophagosomal membrane shaping by promoting actin assembly inside the isolation membrane', Nature Cell Biology, vol. 17, no. 9, pp. 1112-1123.
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© 2015 Macmillan Publishers Limited. A fundamental question regarding autophagosome formation is how the shape of the double-membrane autophagosomal vesicle is generated. Here we show that in mammalian cells assembly of an actin scaffold inside the isolation membrane (the autophagosomal precursor) is essential for autophagosomal membrane shaping. Actin filaments are depolymerized shortly after starvation and actin is assembled into a network within the isolation membrane. When formation of actin puncta is disrupted by an actin polymerization inhibitor or by knocking down the actin-capping protein CapZβ, isolation membranes and omegasomes collapse into mixed-membrane bundles. Formation of actin puncta is PtdIns(3)P dependent, and inhibition of PtdIns(3)P formation by treating cells with the PI(3)K inhibitor 3-MA, or by knocking down Beclin-1, abolishes the formation of actin puncta. Binding of CapZ to PtdIns(3)P, which is enriched in omegasomes, stimulates actin polymerization. Our findings illuminate the mechanism underlying autophagosomal membrane shaping and provide key insights into how autophagosomes are formed.
Milani, D, Khalilpour, R, Zahedi, G & Abbas, A 2015, 'A model-based analysis of CO2 utilization in methanol synthesis plant', Journal of CO2 Utilization, vol. 10, pp. 12-22.
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Mirhassani, S, Ong, HC, Chong, WT & Leong, KY 2015, 'Advances and challenges in grid tied photovoltaic systems', Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, vol. 49, pp. 121-131.
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Mirmomeni, M, Heidarpour, A, Zhao, X-L, Hutchinson, CR, Packer, JA & Wu, C 2015, 'Mechanical properties of partially damaged structural steel induced by high strain rate loading at elevated temperatures – An experimental investigation', International Journal of Impact Engineering, vol. 76, pp. 178-188.
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Mirzahosseini, M, Najjar, YM, Alavi, AH & Gandomi, AH 2015, 'Next-Generation Models for Evaluation of the Flow Number of Asphalt Mixtures', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 15, no. 6, pp. 04015009-04015009.
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This paper presents the development of next-generation prediction models for the flow number of dense asphalt-aggregate mixtures via an innovative machine learning approach. New nonlinear models were developed to predict the flow number using two robust machine learning techniques, called linear genetic programming (LGP) and artificial neural network (ANN). The flow number of Marshall specimens was formulated in terms of percentages of coarse aggregate, filler, bitumen, air voids, voids in mineral aggregate, and Marshall quotient. An experimental database containing 118 test results for Marshall specimens was used for the development of the models. Validity of the models was verified using parts of laboratory data that were not involved in the calibration process. The statistical measures of coefficient of determination, coefficient of efficiency, root-mean squared error, and mean absolute error were used to evaluate the performance of the models. Further, a multivariable least-squares regression (MLSR) analysis was carried out to benchmark the machine learning-based models against a classical approach. Sensitivity and parametric analyses were conducted and discussed. Given the results, the LGP and ANN models accurately characterize the flow number of asphalt mixtures. The LGP design equation reaches a comparable performance with the ANN model. The proposed models outperform the MLSR and other existing machine learning-based models for the flow number of asphalt mixtures.
Miyazaki, Y, Arakane, Y & Miyanaga, Y 2015, 'Robust Phrase Speech Recognition for Noisy Acoustically Similar Words', Journal of Signal Processing, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 195-207.
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Moghaddam, DD, Rezaei, M, Pourghasemi, HR, Pourtaghie, ZS & Pradhan, B 2015, 'Groundwater spring potential mapping using bivariate statistical model and GIS in the Taleghan Watershed, Iran', Arabian Journal of Geosciences, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 913-929.
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Mohamad, ET, Jahed Armaghani, D, Momeni, E & Alavi Nezhad Khalil Abad, SV 2015, 'Prediction of the unconfined compressive strength of soft rocks: a PSO-based ANN approach', Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment, vol. 74, no. 3, pp. 745-757.
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Mohammadi, I & Khabbaz, H 2015, 'Shrinkage performance of Crumb Rubber Concrete (CRC) prepared by water-soaking treatment method for rigid pavements', Cement and Concrete Composites, vol. 62, pp. 106-116.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. This investigation deals with the shrinkage properties of rubberised concrete pavement. Arrays of concrete samples were prepared with different water-cement ratios and rubber content. The experimental results revealed that the introduction of rubber into concrete mixes results in the control of shrinkage cracks if the optimised content of rubber is selected. Accordingly, the optimised rubber content was determined based on the mix characteristics, mechanical properties and the results of plastic and drying shrinkage tests. The mechanical strength, toughness, bleeding, plastic shrinkage and drying shrinkage tests were conducted in this experimental program. Analysing the results revealed that the most promising performance results were achieved for samples prepared with the rubber contents of 20% and 25% of fine aggregates, and water-cement ratios of 0.45 and 0.40, respectively.
Mojsilović, N & Stewart, MG 2015, 'Probability and structural reliability assessment of mortar joint thickness in load-bearing masonry walls', Structural Safety, vol. 52, no. PB, pp. 209-218.
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Mortar joint thickness has a significant effect on capacity of structural masonry. Data on mortar joint thickness (bed and head joints) were collected from twelve typical storey-high walls at three different building sites and from four walls built in a research laboratory in Switzerland. The data obtained allowed an analysis of the spatial distribution of the joint thickness in each wall and the characterization of the probability distribution of joint thickness. The data has been statistically analysed and the results discussed: the central and dispersion measures were calculated and several probability distributions have been fitted to the sample data and subsequently tested using standard methods of statistical theory. Further, the results obtained from all four building sites have been compared, thus providing quantitative information about the quality of the work on different sites. The presented probabilistic information is then used to define reliability-based limit state specifications where the joint thickness acts as an important random variable. The reliability of the structural masonry subjected to a concentric normal force found that probabilistic modelling of bed joint thickness results in higher reliability indices.
Momeni, E, Jahed Armaghani, D, Hajihassani, M & Mohd Amin, MF 2015, 'Prediction of uniaxial compressive strength of rock samples using hybrid particle swarm optimization-based artificial neural networks', Measurement, vol. 60, pp. 50-63.
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Momeni, E, Nazir, R, Armaghani, DJ & Sohaie, H 2015, 'Bearing capacity of precast thin-walled foundation in sand', Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Geotechnical Engineering, vol. 168, no. 6, pp. 539-550.
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The prime objective of this study is to look at the bearing capacity of a thin-walled spread foundation system in cohesionless soils. In this regard, laboratory-footing load tests were on the aforementioned footing in loose and dense sands. The Johor Bahru sand used is this study was dried and characterised in the laboratory. To investigate the beneficial effect of the thin walls on the bearing capacity of the footing, laboratory footing load tests were also conducted on a simple surface footing and the results were compared. For verification purposes, the experimentally obtained bearing capacities of thin-walled foundation were checked against finite-element analyses. The experimental findings show an enhancement of the bearing capacity by a factor of almost 2 when the thin-walled footing is used instead of a simple footing. The bearing capacities of the thin-walled footing in loose and dense sands predicted using finite-element analyses were different to the laboratory observations by 10%.
Moore, I & Sheng, D 2015, 'Note of appreciation / Note de reconnaissance', Canadian Geotechnical Journal, vol. 52, no. 12, pp. iii-v.
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Moreira, C, Calado, P & Martins, B 2015, 'Learning to rank academic experts in the DBLP dataset', Expert Systems, vol. 32, no. 4, pp. 477-493.
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AbstractExpert finding is an information retrieval task that is concerned with the search for the most knowledgeable people with respect to a specific topic, and the search is based on documents that describe people's activities. The task involves taking a user query as input and returning a list of people who are sorted by their level of expertise with respect to the user query. Despite recent interest in the area, the current state‐of‐the‐art techniques lack in principled approaches for optimally combining different sources of evidence. This article proposes two frameworks for combining multiple estimators of expertise. These estimators are derived from textual contents, from graph‐structure of the citation patterns for the community of experts and from profile information about the experts. More specifically, this article explores the use of supervised learning to rank methods, as well as rank aggregation approaches, for combining all of the estimators of expertise. Several supervised learning algorithms, which are representative of the pointwise, pairwise and listwise approaches, were tested, and various state‐of‐the‐art data fusion techniques were also explored for the rank aggregation framework. Experiments that were performed on a dataset of academic publications from the Computer Science domain attest the adequacy of the proposed approaches.
Mosarof, MH, Kalam, MA, Masjuki, HH, Ashraful, AM, Rashed, MM, Imdadul, HK & Monirul, IM 2015, 'Implementation of palm biodiesel based on economic aspects, performance, emission, and wear characteristics', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 105, pp. 617-629.
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Mueller, J & Stewart, MG 2015, 'Terrorism, counterterrorism, and the Internet: The American cases', Dynamics of Asymmetric Conflict, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 176-190.
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This article assesses the cases that have come to light since 9/11 of Islamist extremist terrorism, whether based in the United States or abroad, in which the United States itself has been, or apparently has been, targeted. Information from them is used to evaluate how the Internet (including various forms of electronic communication) has affected several aspects of the terrorism enterprise in the United States: radicalization, communication, organization, and the gathering of information. In general, it is found that the Internet has not been particularly important. Although it has been facilitating in some respects, it has scarcely ever been necessary. In some respects, the Internet more fully aids efforts to police terrorism – although this is mainly due to the incompetence and amateurishness of would-be terrorists. In other respects, however, the Internet, and the big data compilations it makes possible, greatly increase the costs and complications of the counterterrorism quest.
Muhammad, KSB & Lu, DD-C 2015, 'ZCS Bridgeless Boost PFC Rectifier Using Only Two Active Switches', IEEE Transactions on Industrial Electronics, vol. 62, no. 5, pp. 2795-2806.
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© 1982-2012 IEEE. Existing bridgeless boost (BLB) converter with soft switching utilize more than two active switches and extra resonant networks. In this paper, a new zero-current-switching BLB rectifier with high power factor (PF) using only two active switches is proposed. The proposed BLB converter is based on a totem-pole BLB (TPBLB) configuration, which allows the current to flow from high side to low side and vice versa during resonance. Hence, no auxiliary active switch is needed to provide soft switching for all semiconductor devices. The soft switching also reduces the body diode reverse recovery problem, hence allowing the TPBLB to operate in continuous conduction mode. Standard components are used to prove that the proposed converter is working with an acceptable performance compared with other BLB converters with soft switching. In order to achieve smooth input current waveform, high PF, and wide soft-switching operations, a pulsewidth modulation controller is proposed and developed, which combines a conventional PF correction average current mode controller with several logic gates and a phase detector. A detailed analysis of the converter operation and control is presented. Design considerations and parameter values calculations are given. An experimental prototype is developed and tested to verify the converter performance.
Mulya Saputra, Y & Yun, J-H 2015, 'Performance Analysis of Adaptive Radio Activation in Dual-Radio Aggregation System', Journal of the Korea Institute of Information and Communication Engineering, vol. 19, no. 8, pp. 1901-1907.
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Muniz, KM, Woodside, AG & Sood, S 2015, 'Consumer storytelling of brand archetypal enactments', International Journal of Tourism Anthropology, vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 67-67.
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Mustapha, S, Hu, Y, Nguyen, K, Alamdari, MM, Runcie, P, Dackermann, U, Nguyen, VV, Li, J & Ye, L 2015, 'Pattern recognition based on time series analysis using vibration data for structural health monitoring in civil structures', Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 106-115.
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A statistical pattern recognition technique was developed based on the time series analysis to detect cracking in steel reinforced concrete structures using vibration measurements. The technique has been developed for the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The measurements were collected from single and tri-axial accel-erometers, which were integrated into sensor nodes that were developed at the National ICT Australia. The approach is based on two staged Auto-Regressive (AR) and Auto-Regressive with exogenous inputs (ARX) prediction models. The variation between the residual errors obtained from the intact and damaged states were used to define a Damage Index (DI) capable of identifying physical changed which could be due to structural damage. The effect of the severity of damage on the deviation of the AR-ARX model from its in-tact state was also scrutinised. The results of the field trial and the laboratory testing demonstrated the ability of the approach in identifying the presence of cracking and handling large volumes of data in a very efficient manner.
Naderpour, M, Lu, J & Zhang, G 2015, 'A human-system interface risk assessment method based on mental models', SAFETY SCIENCE, vol. 79, pp. 286-297.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. In many safety-critical systems, it is necessary to maintain operators' situation awareness at a high level to ensure the safety of operations. Today, in many such systems, operators have to rely on the principles and design of human-system interfaces (HSIs) to observe and comprehend the overwhelming amount of process data. Thus, poor HSIs may cause serious consequences, such as occupational accidents and diseases including stress, and they have therefore been considered an emerging risk. Despite the importance of this, very few methods have as yet been developed to assess the risk of HSIs. This paper presents a new risk assessment method that relies upon operators' mental models, human reliability analysis (HRA) event tree, and the situation awareness global assessment technique (SAGAT) to produce a risk profile for the intended HSI. In the proposed method, the operator's understanding (i.e. mental models) about possible abnormal situations in the intended plant is modeled on the basis of the capabilities of Bayesian networks. The situation models are combined with the HRA event tree, which paves the way for the incorporation of operator responses in the assessment method. Probe questions in line with the SAGAT through simulated scenarios in a virtual environment are then administrated to gather operator responses. Finally, the proposed method determines a risk level for the HSI by assigning the operator responses to the developed situational networks. The performance of the proposed method is investigated through a case study at a chemical plant.
Naderpour, M, Lu, J & Zhang, G 2015, 'An abnormal situation modeling method to assist operators in safety-critical systems', RELIABILITY ENGINEERING & SYSTEM SAFETY, vol. 133, pp. 33-47.
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© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. One of the main causes of accidents in safety-critical systems is human error. In order to reduce human errors in the process of handling abnormal situations that are highly complex and mentally taxing activities, operators need to be supported, from a cognitive perspective, in order to reduce their workload, stress, and the consequent error rate. Of the various cognitive activities, a correct understanding of the situation, i.e. situation awareness (SA), is a crucial factor in improving performance and reducing errors. Despite the importance of SA in decision-making in time- and safety-critical situations, the difficulty of SA modeling and assessment means that very few methods have as yet been developed. This study confronts this challenge, and develops an innovative abnormal situation modeling (ASM) method that exploits the capabilities of risk indicators, Bayesian networks and fuzzy logic systems. The risk indicators are used to identify abnormal situations, Bayesian networks are utilized to model them and a fuzzy logic system is developed to assess them. The ASM method can be used in the development of situation assessment decision support systems that underlie the achievement of SA. The performance of the ASM method is tested through a real case study at a chemical plant.
Naderpour, M, Nazir, S & Lu, J 2015, 'The role of situation awareness in accidents of large-scale technological systems', PROCESS SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, vol. 97, pp. 13-24.
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© 2015 The Institution of Chemical Engineers. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. In the last two decades, several serious accidents at large-scale technological systems that have had grave consequences, such as that at Bhopal, have primarily been attributed to human error. However, further investigations have revealed that humans are not the primary cause of these accidents, but have inherited the problems and difficulties of working with complex systems created by engineers. The operators have to comprehend malfunctions in real time, respond quickly, and make rapid decisions to return operational units to normal conditions, but under these circumstances, the mental workload of operators rises sharply, and a mental workload that is too high increases the rate of error. Therefore, cognivitive human features such as situation awareness (SA) - one of the most important prerequisite for decision-making - should be considered and analyzed appropriately. This paper applys the SA Error Taxonomy methodology to analyze the role of SA in three different accidents: (1) A runaway chemical reaction at Institute, West Virginia killing two employees, injuring eight people, and requiring the evacuation of more than 40,000 residents adjacent to the facility, (2) The ignition of a vapor cloud at Bellwood, Illinois that killed one person, injured two employees, and caused significant business interruption, and (3) An explosion at Ontario, California injuring four workers and caused extensive damage to the facility. In addition, the paper presents certain requirements for cognitive operator support system development and operator training under abnormal situations to promote operators' SA in the process industry.
Naidu, G, Jeong, S & Vigneswaran, S 2015, 'Interaction of humic substances on fouling in membrane distillation for seawater desalination', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 262, pp. 946-957.
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Naik, GR & Nguyen, HT 2015, 'Nonnegative Matrix Factorization for the Identification of EMG Finger Movements: Evaluation Using Matrix Analysis', IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 478-485.
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© 2014 IEEE. Surface electromyography (sEMG) is widely used in evaluating the functional status of the hand to assist in hand gesture recognition, prosthetics and rehabilitation applications. The sEMG is a noninvasive, easy to record signal of superficial muscles from the skin surface. Considering the nonstationary characteristics of sEMG, recent feature selection of hand gesture recognition using sEMG signals necessitate designers to use nonnegative matrix factorization (NMF)-based methods. This method exploits both the additive and sparse nature of signals by extracting accurate and reliable measurements of sEMG features using a minimum number of sensors. The testing has been conducted for simple and complex finger flexions using several experiments with artificial neural network classification scheme. It is shown, both by simulation and experimental studies, that the proposed algorithm is able to classify ten finger flexions (five simple and five complex finger flexions) recorded from two sEMG sensors up to 92% (95% for simple and 87% for complex flexions) accuracy. The recognition performances of simple and complex finger flexions are also validated with NMF permutation matrix analysis.
Naik, GR, Baker, KG & Nguyen, HT 2015, 'Dependence Independence Measure for Posterior and Anterior EMG Sensors Used in Simple and Complex Finger Flexion Movements: Evaluation Using SDICA', IEEE Journal of Biomedical and Health Informatics, vol. 19, no. 5, pp. 1689-1696.
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© 2015 IEEE. Identification of simple and complex finger flexion movements using surface electromyography (sEMG) and a muscle activation strategy is necessary to control human-computer interfaces such as prosthesis and orthoses. In order to identify these movements, sEMG sensors are placed on both anterior and posterior muscle compartments of the forearm. In general, the accuracy of myoelectric classification depends on several factors, which include number of sensors, features extraction methods, and classification algorithms. Myoelectric classification using a minimum number of sensors and optimal electrode configuration is always a challenging task. Sometimes, using several sensors including high density electrodes will not guarantee high classification accuracy. In this research, we investigated the dependence and independence nature of anterior and posterior muscles during simple and complex finger flexion movements. The outcome of this research shows that posterior parts of the hand muscles are dependent and hence responsible for most of simple finger flexion. On the other hand, this study shows that anterior muscles are responsible for most complex finger flexion. This also indicates that simple finger flexion can be identified using sEMG sensors connected only on anterior muscles (making posterior placement either independent or redundant), and vice versa is true for complex actions which can be easily identified using sEMG sensors on posterior muscles. The result of this study is beneficial for optimal electrode configuration and design of prosthetics and other related devices using a minimum number of sensors.
Nana Duan, Weijie Xu, Shuhong Wang, Jianguo Zhu & Youguang Guo 2015, 'An Improved XFEM With Multiple High-Order Enrichment Functions and Low-Order Meshing Elements for Field Analysis of Electromagnetic Devices With Multiple Nearby Geometrical Interfaces', IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 1-4.
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This paper proposes an improved extended finite element method (XFEM) for modeling electromagnetic devices with multiple nearby geometrical interfaces. In regions near these interfaces, the magnetic vector potential approximation is enriched by incorporat-ing multiple derivative discontinuous fields based on the partition of unity method such that the interfaces can be represented inde-pendent of the mesh. The support of a node or an element can be cut by several interfaces. This method results in the high accuracy in the approximation field and the derivative field. Numerical examples applied to the iron core in 1D eddy current field involving level set based parts, error analysis and electromagnetic field computations are provided to demonstrate the utility of the proposed approach.
Nancarrow, P, Mustafa, N, Shahid, A, Varughese, V, Zaffar, U, Ahmed, R, Akther, N, Ahmed, H, AlZubaidy, I, Hasan, S, Elsayed, Y & Sara, Z 2015, 'Technical Evaluation of Ionic Liquid-Extractive Processing of Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel Fuel', Industrial & Engineering Chemistry Research, vol. 54, no. 43, pp. 10843-10853.
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Nemati, S 2015, 'ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF IRANIAN LANDFILLS AT SEASIDE OF CASPIAN SEA', International Journal of Geomate, vol. 9, no. 2, pp. 1496-1501.
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This paper focuses on methods of solids and contained liquids management and as a case study, and evaluates the proposed landfill design in Langerood, a city in north of Iran close to Caspian Sea. In addition, the methods of waste management and disposal, environmental conditions of transport stations, kinds of waste and other influential managing parameters in this region are analysed and several solutions are presented. The amount of municipal solid waste (MSW) collected in the province of Gulan is about 35,000 tonnes/day. This province involves 4% of the total population of Iran and about 0.9% of the area of Iran, while it produces 1.4% of total MSW of Iran. There is no valuable estimation on the amount of waste generated by industrial units. Approximately 90% of MSW are discharged directly into the rivers. In addition to compostable materials, about 14,000 tonnes paper and cardboard, 9,700 tonnes plastic and 2,500 tonnes glass are annually being entered into the MSW of this province. This paper presents specific and general recommendations to enhance the solid waste management in the study region. © 2015, International Journal of GEOMATE.
Nemati, S, Tahmoorian, F & Mortazavi, M 2015, 'ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS OF IRANIAN LANDFILLS AT SEASIDE OF CASPIAN SEA', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF GEOMATE, vol. 9, no. 18, pp. 1496-1501.
Neshat, A & Pradhan, B 2015, 'An integrated DRASTIC model using frequency ratio and two new hybrid methods for groundwater vulnerability assessment', Natural Hazards, vol. 76, no. 1, pp. 543-563.
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Neshat, A & Pradhan, B 2015, 'Risk assessment of groundwater pollution with a new methodological framework: application of Dempster–Shafer theory and GIS', Natural Hazards, vol. 78, no. 3, pp. 1565-1585.
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Neshat, A, Pradhan, B & Javadi, S 2015, 'Risk assessment of groundwater pollution using Monte Carlo approach in an agricultural region: An example from Kerman Plain, Iran', Computers, Environment and Urban Systems, vol. 50, pp. 66-73.
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Neshat, M & Sepidname, G 2015, 'A new hybrid optimization method inspired from swarm intelligence: Fuzzy adaptive swallow swarm optimization algorithm (FASSO)', Egyptian Informatics Journal, vol. 16, no. 3, pp. 339-350.
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Neupane, K, Sriravindrarajah, R, Baweja, D & Chalmers, D 2015, 'Effect of curing on the compressive strength development in structural grades of geocement concrete', CONSTRUCTION AND BUILDING MATERIALS, vol. 94, pp. 241-248.
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Neville, KA, Walker, JL, Cohn, RJ, Cowell, CT & White, CP 2015, 'The prevalence of Vitamin D deficiency is higher in adult survivors of childhood cancer', Clinical Endocrinology, vol. 82, no. 5, pp. 657-662.
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SummaryBackgroundIt is unclear whether the rate of vitamin D deficiency in paediatric cancer survivors is higher than in the background population, and whether this is of pathological significance.Patients and Methods25OHD was measured in a previously studied group of 208 survivors (n = 108 paediatric 5–17 years, n = 99 adults 18–39 years) and compared with paediatric (5–17 years; n = 132) and adult controls (25–35 years; n = 1393 from the AusDiab cohort) adjusted for age and gender. Relationships with treatment factors (irradiation, bone marrow transplantation and intensity of treatment) along with overweight/obesity (defined by BMI), abdominal adiposity (waist:height ratio >0·5) and hyperinsulinism or abnormal glucose tolerance (HI/aGT) were sought.Results25OHD concentrations were similar in paediatric survivors compared with controls (64·3 ± 21·6 nmol/l vs 66·3 ± 22·8 nmol/l), with no effect of age or gender. Adjusted for gender, rates of 25OHD deficiency (<50 nmol/l) were higher in adult survivors compared with AusDiab controls (42·4% vs 20·8%; P < 0·001). Apart from time since diagnosis (P = 0·03), no relationship with treatment factors was detected. In multivariate regres...
Nghiem, LD, Elters, C, Simon, A, Tatsuya, T & Price, W 2015, 'Coal seam gas produced water treatment by ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and multi-effect distillation: A pilot study', Separation and Purification Technology, vol. 146, pp. 94-100.
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Ngo, NT, Rujikiatkamjorn, C & Indraratna, B 2015, 'Experimental investigation of coal-fouled ballast stabilised with geogrid', Australian Geomechanics Journal, vol. 50, no. 4, pp. 105-112.
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This paper presents the results of an experimental study of coal-fouled ballast reinforced with geogrid, at various degrees of fouling and subjected to cyclic loading. A novel Track Process Simulation Testing Apparatus was used to realistically simulate fouled rail track conditions. The laboratory results demonstrated that coal fines acted as a lubricant, causing ballast aggregates to displace and rotate and, as a result, increase the deformation of ballast. However, coal fines also reduced ballast breakage somewhat because they fill the voids between the ballast particles and coat surface of ballast aggregates which reduce the inter-particle attrition. The placement of a geogrid at the interface between the ballast and sub-ballast layers provides extra internal confinement and interlocks the grains of ballast in its apertures, which also reduces ballast deformation. Based on laboratory results, a threshold value of VCI=40% is proposed to assist practitioners in conducting track maintenance as fouling beyond this threshold significantly reduces the reinforcement effect of geogrid so that fouled ballast experiences premature dilation leading to track instability. A novel equation incorporating the Void Contaminant Index and number of load cycles is also introduced to predict the deformation of fouled ballast, improve the design of rail tracks and help make the correct decisions with regards to track maintenance.
Nguyen, AH, Ngo, HH, Guo, WS, Pham, TQ, Li, FM, Nguyen, TV & Bui, XT 2015, 'Adsorption of phosphate from aqueous solutions and sewage using zirconium loaded okara (ZLO): Fixed-bed column study', SCIENCE OF THE TOTAL ENVIRONMENT, vol. 523, pp. 40-49.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. This study explores the potential of removing phosphorus from aqueous solutions and sewage by Zr(IV)-loaded okara (ZLO) in the fixed-bed column. Soybean residue (okara) was impregnated with 0.25. M Zr(IV) solution to prepare active binding sites for phosphate. The effect of several factors, including flow rate, bed height, initial phosphorus concentration, pH and adsorbent particle size on the performance of ZLO was examined. The maximum dynamic adsorption capacity of ZLO for phosphorus was estimated to be 16.43. mg/g. Breakthrough curve modeling indicated that Adams-Bohart model and Thomas model fitted the experimental data better than Yoon-Nelson model. After treatment with ZLO packed bed column, the effluent could meet the discharge standard for phosphorus in Australia. Successful desorption and regeneration were achieved with 0.2 NaOH and 0.1 HCl, respectively. The results prove that ZLO can be used as a promising phosphorus adsorbent in the dynamic adsorption system.
Nguyen, DN, Krunz, M & Hanly, SV 2015, 'Distributed Bargaining Mechanisms for MIMO Dynamic Spectrum Access Systems', IEEE Transactions on Cognitive Communications and Networking, vol. 1, no. 1, pp. 113-127.
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© 2015 IEEE. Dynamic spectrum access (DSA) and MIMO communications are among the most promising solutions to address the ever increasing wireless traffic demand. An integration that successfully embraces the two is far from trivial due to the dynamics of spectrum opportunities as well as the requirement to jointly optimize both spectrum allocation and spatial/antenna pattern in a distributed fashion. Regardless of spectrum dynamics and heterogeneity, existing literature on channel/power allocation in MIMO DSA systems is only applicable to centralized cases. Our objective here is to design distributed algorithms that jointly allocate opportunistic channels to various links and to simultaneously optimize the MIMO precoding matrices so as to achieve fairness or maximize network throughput. For self-interested DSA links, our distributed algorithm allows links to negotiate channel allocation based on Nash bargaining (NB) and configure the precoding matrices so that links' rate demands are guaranteed while the surplus resources (after meeting minimum rate demands) are fairly allocated. Next, we consider a network throughput maximization formulation (NET-MAX). Both the NB-based and NET-MAX problems are combinatorial with mixed variables. To tackle them, we first transform the original problems by incorporating the concept of timesharing. Using dual decomposition, we develop optimal distributed algorithms for timesharing case, which shed light on how to derive a distributed algorithm for the original problems. Our work fills a gap in the literature of channel allocation where a central controller is not available.
Nguyen, HT, Chen, S-S, Nguyen, NC, Ngo, HH, Guo, W & Li, C-W 2015, 'Exploring an innovative surfactant and phosphate-based draw solution for forward osmosis desalination', Journal of Membrane Science, vol. 489, pp. 212-219.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. The reverse salt flux phenomenon of forward osmosis affects the quality of the feed water, reduces water flux, and increases the cost for replenishing lost draw solute. In this study, a novel draw solution comprising a mixture of Triton X100 and Na3PO4 for minimizing the reverse salt flux during forward osmosis (FO) was explored. The results indicated that the reverse salt flux caused by coupling 0.5mM Triton X100 to 0.55M Na3PO4 draw solution was only 0.13g/m2h, and the specific reverse salt flux was 0.03g/L using DI water as the feed solution, which are the lowest recorded values among all forward osmosis studies. Hydrophobic attractive interactions between tail groups of Triton X100 with the FO membrane are believed to be the main mechanism for minimizing salt leakage. Results from desalination experiments demonstrated that using 0.55M Na3PO4 coupled with 0.5mM Triton X100 as the draw solution and brackish water and seawater as the feed solution with total dissolved solids of 4090 and 36,800ppm achieved water fluxes of 4.89L/m2h and 1.15L/m2h, respectively. Furthermore, using a two-stage ultrafiltration-nanofiltration system for the draw solution recovery enabled 98% recovery of solutes.
Nguyen, HT, Nguyen, NC, Chen, S-S, Ngo, HH, Guo, W & Li, C-W 2015, 'A new class of draw solutions for minimizing reverse salt flux to improve forward osmosis desalination', Science of The Total Environment, vol. 538, pp. 129-136.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. The applications of forward osmosis (FO) have been hindered because of the lack of an optimal draw solution. The reverse salt flux from the draw solution not only reduces the water flux but also increases the cost of draw solute replenishment. Therefore, in this study, Tergitol NP7 and NP9 with a long straight carbon chain and low critical micelle concentration (CMC) were coupled with highly charged ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) as an innovative draw solution to minimize reverse salt diffusion in FO for the first time. The results showed that the lowest reverse salt flux of 0.067 GMH was observed when 0.1. M EDTA-2Na coupled with 15. mM NP7 was used as a draw solution and deionized water was used as a feed solution in FO mode (active layer facing with the feed solution). This is due to the hydrophobic interaction between the tails of NP7 and the FO membrane, thus creating layers on the membrane surface and constricting the FO membrane pores. Moreover, 1. M EDTA-2Na coupled with 15. mM NP7 is promising as an optimal draw solution for brackish water and sea water desalination. Average water fluxes of 7.68, 6.78, and 5.95 LMH were achieved when brackish water was used as a feed solution (5, 10, and 20. g/L NaCl), and an average water flux of 3.81 LMH was achieved when sea water was used as a feed solution (35. g/L NaCl). The diluted draw solution was recovered using a nanofiltration (NF-TS80) membrane with a high efficiency of 95% because of the high charge and large size of the draw solution.
Nguyen, HTT, von Schoultz, B, Nguyen, TV, Thang, TX, Chau, TT, Duc, PTM & Hirschberg, AL 2015, 'Sex hormone levels as determinants of bone mineral density and osteoporosis in Vietnamese women and men', Journal of Bone and Mineral Metabolism, vol. 33, no. 6, pp. 658-665.
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This study sought to investigate the prevalence of osteoporosis and the role of sex hormone levels in the determination of bone mineral density (BMD) and osteoporosis in a Vietnamese population of women and men. The cross-sectional study involved 269 women and 222 men aged 13-83 years, who were randomly selected from urban and rural areas in northern Vietnam. Serum concentrations of estradiol and testosterone were analyzed, and BMD was measured by dual X-ray absorptiometry. We found that the prevalence of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women was 18, 17, and 37 % for the femoral neck, total hip, and lumbar spine, respectively. For men aged 50 years or older, the corresponding values were 8, 7, and 12 %. In men, the most important predictors of BMD for the femoral neck and total hip were age, body mass index, and serum levels of estradiol. For the BMD of the lumbar spine, testosterone also had a significant influence. Determinants of osteoporosis in men for the total hip and lumbar spine were age, weight, and serum concentrations of estradiol and testosterone. In postmenopausal women, age, weight, and residence (urban vs rural) were the most important predictors of BMD and osteoporosis. For all women (including those of reproductive age), serum levels of estradiol were also significant. These data suggest that the prevalence of osteoporosis in the Vietnamese population is high also in men, and that estradiol levels are essential for bone mass in both men and women. The results should have clinical implications and increase awareness of an important health issue within Vietnamese society.
Nguyen, LN, Hai, FI, Price, WE, Kang, J, Leusch, FDL, Roddick, F, van de Merwe, JP, Magram, SF & Nghiem, LD 2015, 'Degradation of a broad spectrum of trace organic contaminants by an enzymatic membrane reactor: Complementary role of membrane retention and enzymatic degradation', International Biodeterioration & Biodegradation, vol. 99, pp. 115-122.
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Nguyen, NC, Chen, S-S, Nguyen, HT, Ngo, HH, Guo, W, Hao, CW & Lin, P-H 2015, 'Applicability of a novel osmotic membrane bioreactor using a specific draw solution in wastewater treatment', Science of The Total Environment, vol. 518-519, pp. 586-594.
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Nguyen, TC, Loganathan, P, Nguyen, TV, Pham, TTN, Kandasamy, J, Wu, M, Naidu, R & Vigneswaran, S 2015, 'Trace elements in road-deposited and waterbed sediments in Kogarah Bay, Sydney: enrichment, sources and fractionation', SOIL RESEARCH, vol. 53, no. 4, pp. 401-411.
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© 2015 CSIRO. Trace elements (TEs) in road-deposited sediments (RDS) can be transported by stormwater to neighbouring water bodies to cause aquatic pollution. A study was conducted in Kogarah Bay, Sydney, Australia, to assess the possible sources and potential mobility of TEs in RDS and the contribution to the TE load to the adjacent waterbed sediments in canals and the bay. Of the 11 TEs analysed, pseudo-total concentrations of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), vanadium (V), chromium (Cr), and antimony (Sb) were greatly enriched in RDS over baseline soils (top 10cm depth) collected in bushlands. All TE concentrations in waterbed sediments (top 10cm depth) were similar to those in baseline soils but lower than in RDS. Correlation and principal component analyses revealed that Zn, Cu, Cr and Sb were related to each other in RDS, and probably originated from tyres and brake linings. Vanadium occurred in another component, likely to have originated mainly from road asphalt. Pseudo-total and mobile-fraction (0.1m acetic acid, pH 2.85 extraction) TE concentrations in RDS were: iron>manganese, Zn>Cu, lead>Cr, nickel, V, Sb, cadmium. The potential ecological TE risk was low to medium in RDS but low in baseline soils and waterbed sediments.
Nguyen, TC, Loganathan, P, Nguyen, TV, Vigneswaran, S, Kandasamy, J & Naidu, R 2015, 'Simultaneous adsorption of Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, and Zn by an iron-coated Australian zeolite in batch and fixed-bed column studies', CHEMICAL ENGINEERING JOURNAL, vol. 270, pp. 393-404.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Excessive levels of heavy metals in water are an environmental hazard. An Australian zeolite with (ICZ) and without (Z) iron-coating, was used to remove five heavy metals from aqueous solutions using adsorption in batch and column experiments. The batch study showed that the Langmuir adsorption capacities of heavy metals on Z and ICZ at pH 6.5 and ionic strength 10-3M NaNO3 were in the order Pb>Cu>Cd>Cr, Zn for single metal (5.0-11.2mg/g) and for mixed metals solution (3.7-7.6mg/g). The data for the kinetics of adsorption satisfactory fitted to both the pseudo-first and second order models with fits slightly better for the latter model. Data fitted to a diffusion model revealed that adsorption took place in two or more than two different stages: a fast external surface adsorption, and a gradual adsorption controlled by both film diffusion and intra-particle diffusion. The column adsorption data were fairly well described by Thomas model, with the order of Thomas adsorption capacity following a similar trend as in the batch study. In both batch and column experiments, the adsorption capacities were higher for ICZ than for Z and were generally lower in mixed metals system than in single metals system. Leaching of used ICZ columns with 0.1M HCl, resulted in 64-93% of adsorbed metals being desorbed, and 10% of Fe being dissolved from the ICZ.
Nguyen, VV, Dackermann, U, Li, J, Alamdari, MM, Mustapha, S, Runcie, P & Ye, L 2015, 'Damage identification of a concrete arch beam based on frequency response functions and artificial neural networks', Electronic Journal of Structural Engineering, vol. 14, no. 1, pp. 75-84.
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This paper presents a vibration-based structural health monitoring (SHM) technique for the identification of damage in a concrete arch beam replica section of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. The proposed technique uses residual frequency response functions (FRFs) combined with principal component analysis (PCA) to form a damage specific feature (DSF) that is used as an input parameter to artificial neural networks (ANNs). Extensive laboratory testing and numerical modelling are undertaken to validate the method. In the proposed technique, FRFs are obtained by the standard modal testing and damage is identified using ANNs that innovatively map the DSF to the severity of damage (length of damage cut). The results of the experimental and numerical validation show that the proposed technique can successfully quantify damage induced to a concrete arch beam simulating a real life structural component of the Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Ni, B-J & Yuan, Z 2015, 'Recent advances in mathematical modeling of nitrous oxides emissions from wastewater treatment processes', Water Research, vol. 87, pp. 336-346.
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Nitrous oxide (N2O) can be emitted from wastewater treatment contributing to its greenhouse gas footprint significantly. Mathematical modeling of N2O emissions is of great importance toward the understanding and reduction of the environmental impact of wastewater treatment systems. This article reviews the current status of the modeling of N2O emissions from wastewater treatment. The existing mathematical models describing all the known microbial pathways for N2O production are reviewed and discussed. These included N2O production by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) through the hydroxylamine oxidation pathway and the AOB denitrification pathway, N2O production by heterotrophic denitrifiers through the denitrification pathway, and the integration of these pathways in single N2O models. The calibration and validation of these models using lab-scale and full-scale experimental data is also reviewed. We conclude that the mathematical modeling of N2O production, while is still being enhanced supported by new knowledge development, has reached a maturity that facilitates the estimation of site-specific N2O emissions and the development of mitigation strategies for a wastewater treatment plant taking into the specific design and operational conditions of the plant.
Ni, B-J, Batstone, D, Zhao, B-H & Yu, H-Q 2015, 'Microbial Internal Storage Alters the Carbon Transformation in Dynamic Anaerobic Fermentation', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 49, no. 15, pp. 9159-9167.
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Microbial internal storage processes have been demonstrated to occur and play an important role in activated sludge systems under both aerobic and anoxic conditions when operating under dynamic conditions. High-rate anaerobic reactors are often operated at a high volumetric organic loading and a relatively dynamic profile, with large amounts of fermentable substrates. These dynamic operating conditions and high catabolic energy availability might also facilitate the formation of internal storage polymers by anaerobic microorganisms. However, so far information about storage under anaerobic conditions (e.g., anaerobic fermentation) as well as its consideration in anaerobic process modeling (e.g., IWA Anaerobic Digestion Model No. 1, ADM1) is still sparse. In this work, the accumulation of storage polymers during anaerobic fermentation was evaluated by batch experiments using anaerobic methanogenic sludge and based on mass balance analysis of carbon transformation. A new mathematical model was developed to describe microbial storage in anaerobic systems. The model was calibrated and validated by using independent data sets from two different anaerobic systems, with significant storage observed, and effectively simulated in both systems. The inclusion of the new anaerobic storage processes in the developed model allows for more successful simulation of transients due to lower accumulation of volatile fatty acids (correction for the overestimation of volatile fatty acids), which mitigates pH fluctuations. Current models such as the ADM1 cannot effectively simulate these dynamics due to a lack of anaerobic storage mechanisms.
Ni, B-J, Pan, Y, van den Akker, B, Ye, L & Yuan, Z 2015, 'Full-Scale Modeling Explaining Large Spatial Variations of Nitrous Oxide Fluxes in a Step-Feed Plug-Flow Wastewater Treatment Reactor', Environmental Science & Technology, vol. 49, no. 15, pp. 9176-9184.
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Nitrous oxide (N2O) emission data collected from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) show huge variations between plants and within one plant (both spatially and temporarily). Such variations and the relative contributions of various N2O production pathways are not fully understood. This study applied a previously established N2O model incorporating two currently known N2O production pathways by ammonia-oxidizing bacteria (AOB) (namely the AOB denitrification and the hydroxylamine pathways) and the N2O production pathway by heterotrophic denitrifiers to describe and provide insights into the large spatial variations of N2O fluxes in a step-feed full-scale activated sludge plant. The model was calibrated and validated by comparing simulation results with 40 days of N2O emission monitoring data as well as other water quality parameters from the plant. The model demonstrated that the relatively high biomass specific nitrogen loading rate in the Second Step of the reactor was responsible for the much higher N2O fluxes from this section. The results further revealed the AOB denitrification pathway decreased and the NH2OH oxidation pathway increased along the path of both Steps due to the increasing dissolved oxygen concentration. The overall N2O emission from this step-feed WWTP would be largely mitigated if 30% of the returned sludge were returned to the Second Step to reduce its biomass nitrogen loading rate.
Ni, B-J, Yu, H-Q & Zeng, RJ 2015, 'Understanding the Microbial Internal Storage Turnover in Wastewater Treatment: Retrospect, Prospect, and Challenge', Critical Reviews in Environmental Science and Technology, vol. 45, no. 6, pp. 591-612.
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Biological wastewater treatment processes usually occur under dynamic conditions involving a dynamic regime with respect to carbon substrate, which results in different microbial internal storage processes. These storage processes play important roles in pollutant removal (e.g., chemical oxygen demand, nitrogen and phosphate removal) and resource recovery (e.g., anaerobic digestion for methane production). This review focuses on two different internal storage processes: microbial storage for shock loading of electron donor and another for separate electron donor and acceptor. The review gives the up-to-date status on several essential microbial internal storage issues: their formation and consumption, the kinetics of these processes, the key factors governing microbial storage, their relationship to microbial growth and other important microbial products, their role in nitrous oxides emissions, and their implications in biological wastewater treatment systems. Although previous research in microbial internal storage has undoubtedly improved our level of understanding, it is clear that much remains to be learned about the processes, as many unanswered questions still remain; some of these important future research areas are then outlined. One of the challenges appears to be the competitions for carbon substrate by these microbial internal storage groups when they encounter the same dynamic regimes.
Ni, J, Indraratna, B, Geng, X-Y, Carter, JP & Chen, Y-L 2015, 'Model of Soft Soils under Cyclic Loading', International Journal of Geomechanics, vol. 15, no. 4, pp. 04014067-04014067.
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Ni, W, Cheng, J, Li, X, Gu, G, Huang, L, Guan, Q, Yuan, D & Wang, B 2015, 'Polymeric cathode materials of electroactive conducting poly(triphenylamine) with optimized structures for potential organic pseudo-capacitors with higher cut-off voltage and energy density', RSC Advances, vol. 5, no. 12, pp. 9221-9227.
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Electroactive conducting polymers (ECPs) with designed structures via fast surface reactions are able to store/harvest more electrical energy and may serve as potential cathode materials for organic pseudo-capacitors with higher voltages.
Ni, W, Collings, IB, Lipman, J, Wang, X, Tao, M & Abolhasan, M 2015, 'GRAPH THEORY AND ITS APPLICATIONS TO FUTURE NETWORK PLANNING: SOFTWARE-DEFINED ONLINE SMALL CELL MANAGEMENT', IEEE WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS, vol. 22, no. 1, pp. 52-60.
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© 2015 IEEE. Network planning is facing new and critical challenges due to ad hoc deployment, unbalanced and drastically varying traffic demands, as well as limited backhaul and hardware resources in emerging small cell architectures. We discuss the application of graph theory to address the challenges. A clique-based software-defined online network management approach is proposed that captures traffic imbalance and fluctuation of small cells and optimally plans frequencies, infrastructures, and network structure at any instant. Its applications to three important small cell scenarios of cloud radio, point-to-point microwave backhaul, and interoperator spectrum sharing are demonstrated. Comparison studies show that in each of the scenarios, this new approach is able to significantly outperform conventional static offline network planning schemes in terms of throughput and satisfaction levels of small cells with regard to allocated bandwidths. Specifically, the throughput can be improved by 155 percent for the cloud radio scenario and 110.95 percent for the microwave backhaul scenario. The satisfaction level can be improved by 40 percent for interoperator spectrum sharing.
Ni, W, Collings, IB, Wang, X, Liu, RP, Kajan, A, Hedley, M & Abolhasan, M 2015, 'Radio Alignment for Inductive Charging of Electric Vehicles', IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, vol. 11, no. 2, pp. 427-440.
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© 2005-2012 IEEE. To maximize power transfer for inductively charging electric vehicles (EVs), charger and battery coils must be aligned. Wireless sensors can be installed to estimate misalignments; however, existing ranging techniques cannot satisfy the precision requirements of the misalignment estimation. We propose a high-precision wireless ranging and misalignment estimation scheme, where high precision is achieved by iteratively measuring, estimating, and aligning the coils. Another key aspect is to convert the nonconvex misalignment estimation to a more tractable problem with a convex objective. We develop a conditional gradient descent method to solve the problem, which performs gradient descent (or conditional gradient descent on the boundary of the search space) and projects out-of-boundary points back into the space. Employing experimentally validated models, we show that our scheme can achieve 92% of the efficiency of perfectly aligned coils in 90% of operations, and tolerate correlated distance measurement errors. In contrast, the prior art is susceptible to correlation, undergoing a significant efficiency degradation of 18.5%.
Nie, M, Yan, C, Dong, W, Liu, M, Zhou, J & Yang, Y 2015, 'Occurrence, distribution and risk assessment of estrogens in surface water, suspended particulate matter, and sediments of the Yangtze Estuary', Chemosphere, vol. 127, pp. 109-116.
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The occurrence and distribution of six selected estrogen compounds were investigated in samples of surface water, suspended particulate matter (SPM), and sediment in the Yangtze Estuary and its coastal areas over four seasons. With the exception of 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), all estrogens were detected at least once in all three phases with bisphenol A (BPA) and estriol (E3) as the dominant estrogens in all phases. EE2 was not detected in any surface water samples. In addition, the highest total estrogen concentrations were found in January in all phases, which could be due to the low flow conditions and temperature during this season. A significant positive correlation was found between total estrogen concentrations and organic carbon (OC) contents, both in the water phase and solid phase (i.e. SPM and sediment), indicating the vital role played by OC. Based on a yeast estrogen screen (YES) bioassay, the higher estrogenic risk was found in the SPM and sediment phase when compared to the water phase. These results were confirmed by a risk assessment which revealed that the Yangtze Estuary was displayed a low to high risk over the seasons for all selected estrogens.
Nimmy, SF & Kamal, MS 2015, 'Next generation sequencing under de novo genome assembly', International Journal of Biomathematics, vol. 08, no. 05, pp. 1530001-1530001.
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The next generation sequencing (NGS) is an important process which assures inexpensive organization of vast size of raw sequence dataset over any traditional sequencing systems or methods. Various aspects of NGS such as template preparation, sequencing imaging and genome alignment and assembly outline the genome sequencing and alignment. Consequently, de Bruijn graph (dBG) is an important mathematical tool that graphically analyzes how the orientations are constructed in groups of nucleotides. Basically, dBG describes the formation of the genome segments in circular iterative fashions. Some pivotal dBG-based de novo algorithms and software packages such as T-IDBA, Oases, IDBA-tran, Euler, Velvet, ABySS, AllPaths, SOAPde novo and SOAPde novo2 are illustrated in this paper. Consequently, overlap layout consensus (OLC) graph-based algorithms also play vital role in NGS assembly. Some important OLC-based algorithms such as MIRA3, CABOG, Newbler, Edena, Mosaik and SHORTY are portrayed in this paper. It has been experimented that greedy graph-based algorithms and software packages are also vital for proper genome dataset assembly. A few algorithms named SSAKE, SHARCGS and VCAKE help to perform proper genome sequencing.
Nisola, GM, Limjuco, LA, Vivas, EL, Lawagon, CP, Park, MJ, Shon, HK, Mittal, N, Nah, IW, Kim, H & Chung, W-J 2015, 'Macroporous flexible polyvinyl alcohol lithium adsorbent foam composite prepared via surfactant blending and cryo-desiccation', Chemical Engineering Journal, vol. 280, pp. 536-548.
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© 2015 Elsevier B.V. Macroporous polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) foam composites with high loading of uniformly distributed lithium ion sieves (LIS) were successfully fabricated and evaluated for Li+ recovery. Surfactant blending combined with cryo-desiccation effectively produced LIS/PVA foams with hierarchical porosity composed of macro- and mesopores. Glutaraldehyde cross-linking rendered the LIS/PVA foams insoluble in water but exhibited high water absorbency and flexibility. Relative to the LIS powder, the foams exhibited minimal reductions in adsorption capacity (qe) and kinetic properties due to: (1) high total porosity and surface area, (2) hydrophilicity of PVA matrix, and (3) high LIS loading, which promoted particle exposure on the foam surface. These features facilitated easy convective flow of water through the matrix and allowed intimate contact between the Li+ feed source and the LIS surface. Thus, LIS/PVA foams with high loadings (200-300wt%) exhibited meager reductions in qe (7-13%) and kinetic properties compared to the LIS powder. With LIS loading increase, Li+ selectivity of LIS/PVA foams against other cations (i.e. Na+, K+, Mg2+, Ca2+) likewise approached that of the LIS powder. While 300wt% LIS/PVA had low mechanical property, lower LIS loadings of 200- and 250wt% were highly durable and exhibited no deterioration in adsorption performance and reusability. Among the prepared LIS/PVA, 250wt% demonstrated the highest adsorption performance and can be repeatedly used for long-term application. The developed LIS/PVA foams are promising Li+ adsorbents for secondary Li+ sources; application of these foams via a simple 'absorb and squeeze' mechanism could be more practical than the energy-intensive processes like packed bed and membrane systems.
Niyato, D, Hoang, DT, Luong, NC, Wang, P, Kim, DI & Han, Z 2015, 'Smart Data Pricing Models for Internet-of-Things (IoT): A Bundling Strategy Approach', IEEE Network, vol. 30, no. 2, pp. 18-25.
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Internet of things (IoT) has emerged as a new paradigm for the futureInternet. In IoT, enormous devices are connected to the Internet and therebybeing a huge data source for numerous applications. In this article, we focuson addressing data management in IoT through using a smart data pricing (SDP)approach. With SDP, data can be managed flexibly and efficiently throughintelligent and adaptive incentive mechanisms. Moreover, it is a major sourceof revenue for providers and partners. We propose a new pricing scheme for IoTservice providers to determine the sensing data buying price and IoT servicesubscription fee offered to sensor owners and service users, respectively.Additionally, we adopt the bundling strategy that allows multiple providers toform a coalition and bid their services as a bundle, attracting more users andachieving higher revenue. Finally, we outline some important open researchissues for SDP and IoT.
No, YJ, Roohani‐Esfahani, S, Lu, Z, Schaer, T & Zreiqat, H 2015, 'Injectable radiopaque and bioactive polycaprolactone‐ceramic composites for orthopedic augmentation', Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part B: Applied Biomaterials, vol. 103, no. 7, pp. 1465-1477.
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AbstractThe aim of this study was to develop and characterize an injectable bone void filler by incorporating baghdadite (Ca3ZrSi2O9) particles (average size of 1.7 µm) into polycaprolactone (PCL). A series of PCL composites containing different volume percentages of baghdadite [1 (PCL‐1%Bag), 5 (PCL‐5%Bag), 10 (PCL‐10%Bag), 20 (PCL‐20%Bag), and 30 (PCL‐30%Bag)] were prepared, and their injectability, setting time, mechanical properties, radiopacity, degradation, and cytocompatibility were investigated. PCL, PCL‐1%Bag, PCL‐5%Bag, and PCL‐10%Bag were able to be injected through a stainless steel syringe (Length: 9.0 mm, nozzle diameter: 2.2 mm) at 75°C at injection forces of below 1.5 kN. The core temperature of the injected material at the nozzle exit ranged between 55 and 60°C and was shown to set after 2.5–3.5 min postinjection in a 37°C environment. Injection force, melt viscosity, and radiopacity of the composites increased with increasing baghdadite content. Incorporation of 10–30 vol % baghdadite into PCL increased the compressive strength of the composites from 36 to 47.1 MPa, compared with that for pure PCL (31.4 MPa). Similar trend was found for the compressive modulus of the composites, which increased from 203.8 to 741 MPa, compared with that for pure PCL (205 MPa). Flexural strain of PCL, PCL‐5%Bag, and PCL‐10%Bag exceeded 30%, and PCL‐10%Bag showed the highest flexural strength (29.8 MPa). Primary human osteoblasts cultured on PCL‐10%Bag showed a significant upregulation of osteogenic genes compared with pure PCL. In summary, our results demonstrated that PCL‐10%Bag could be a promising injectable material for orthopedic and trauma application. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Biomed Mater Res Part B: Appl Biomater, 103B: 1465–1477, 2015.
Nobbs, M & Blamires, SJ 2015, 'Spatiotemporal distribution and abundance of mangrove ecosystem engineers: burrowing crabs around canopy gaps', Ecosphere, vol. 6, no. 5, pp. 1-13.
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The burrowing and feeding activities of fiddler and sesarmid crabs have considerable impacts on ecosystem functioning, accordingly they are considered ecosystem engineers. Identifying the factors influencing spatial and temporal variability in crab distribution and abundance would allow us to make predictions of their engineering impacts over a variety of habitats, which is essential for understanding the functionality of mangrove ecosystems. Here we determined the spatial and temporal distributions and abundances of fiddler crabs and sesarmids around canopy gaps in the mangroves of Darwin Harbour, Australia. We sampled three microhabitats at each canopy gap (site): gap center, gap edge and forest edge. We counted crabs and measured selected environmental variables at thirty sites stratified by height within two creek systems during a single season and at six sites within one creek system over two years. Fiddler crabs were generally more abundant in gap centers with Uca flammula preferring lower sites than Uca elegans or Uca signata, while sesarmids favored low to mid‐height vegetated sites. Canonical Correspondence analyses showed spatial abundances to be partitioned and the main driving factors were canopy density and site height, as well as substrate features (sediment mounds, soil moisture, soil penetrability, soil surface temperature). Temporal abundances were either highly variable (U. signata) or showed significant seasonal variation only at exposed (U. flammula) or higher (U. elegans) sites. The main factors driving temporal partitioning were humidity, wind speed, sunshine, and soil and air temperatures. Our results indicate that the distribution and abundance of crabs in mangroves varies over time and space, and with sampling scale. Substrate and environmental variables had bee...
Noguera, M, Alvarez, C, Merigó, JM & Urbano, D 2015, 'Determinants of female entrepreneurship in Spain: an institutional approach', Computational and Mathematical Organization Theory, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 341-355.
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Noushini, A, Samali, B & Vessalas, K 2015, 'Ductility and Damping Characteristics of PVA-FRC Beam Elements', ADVANCES IN STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING, vol. 18, no. 11, pp. 1763-1787.
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Nur, T, Shim, WG, Loganathan, P, Vigneswaran, S & Kandasamy, J 2015, 'Nitrate removal using Purolite A520E ion exchange resin: batch and fixed-bed column adsorption modelling', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, vol. 12, no. 4, pp. 1311-1320.
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© 2014, Islamic Azad University (IAU). Removing excessive nitrate from water is essential because it causes eutrophication which in turn has a harmful effect on aquatic life, resulting in a reduction in biodiversity and posing a danger to people’s health when the water is used for drinking. In this study, nitrate removal from aqueous solutions was studied using an ion exchange resin (Purolite A520E) in batch and fixed-bed column experiments. Batch adsorption kinetics was very well described by pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order and homogeneous surface diffusion models for resin doses 1.5 and 3.0 g/L at a nitrate concentration 20 mg N/L. Column kinetic data satisfactorily fitted to the empirical Thomas model and a numerical model based on advection–dispersion equation for filtration velocities 2.5 and 5.0 m/h at a column height of 12 cm and inlet concentration 20 mg N/L. The experimental and Thomas model predicted breakthrough adsorption capacity ranges for the two filtration rates were 12.0–13.5 and 8.2–9.7 mg N/g, respectively, whereas the maximum adsorption capacity determined using Langmuir adsorption isotherm model in the batch study was 32.2 mg N/g.
Nurhadi, M, Efendi, J, Lee, SL, Mahlia, TMI, Chandren, S, Ho, CS & Nur, H 2015, 'Utilization of low rank coal as oxidation catalyst by controllable removal of its carbonaceous component', Journal of the Taiwan Institute of Chemical Engineers, vol. 46, pp. 183-190.
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Nuwanpriya, A, Ho, S-W, Zhang, J, Grant, A & Luo, L 2015, 'PAM-SCFDE for Optical Wireless Communications', Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 33, no. 14, pp. 1-1.
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© 1983-2012 IEEE. Multipath dispersion is a serious challenge in visible light communication (VLC) systems as these systems are used for indoor applications where there can be many reflections of the transmitted signal from the ceiling, walls, equipment, etc. These reflected signals cause intersymbol interference in the receiver and can degrade the performance of the system considerably. Orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) for optical wireless communications was introduced to mitigate multipath dispersion and has been well investigated in the literature. Recently, single-carrier systems with frequency-domain equalization (SCFDE) have been proposed as alternatives to OFDM. In this paper, we present pulse amplitude modulated SCFDE (PAM-SCFDE) to mitigate multipath dispersion in VLC systems.We also compare the proposed PAM-SCFDE with existing OFDM and SCFDE techniques for optical wireless communications in terms of analytical and simulated bit-error-rate (BER) performance, power-spectral efficiency, peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR), and overall system complexity. The proposed PAM-SCFDE requires lower per bit signal-to-noise ratio to achieve a BER of 10-4 or smaller for modulation sizes common in practice, both with and without considering the effects of light-emitting diode transmitters, such as nonlinearity, forward current restriction, and bandwidth limitation. Furthermore, it exhibits better power efficiency for data rates less than 3 bit/s/Hz, lower PAPR and system complexity compared to other systems.
Oberst, S & Lai, JCS 2015, 'A statistical approach to estimate the Lyapunov spectrum in disc brake squeal', Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 334, pp. 120-135.
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Oberst, S & Lai, JCS 2015, 'Nonlinear transient and chaotic interactions in disc brake squeal', Journal of Sound and Vibration, vol. 342, pp. 272-289.
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Oberst, S & Lai, JCS 2015, 'Pad-mode-induced instantaneous mode instability for simple models of brake systems', Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing, vol. 62-63, pp. 490-505.
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Oberst, S & Lai, JCS 2015, 'Squeal noise in simple numerical brake models', JOURNAL OF SOUND AND VIBRATION, vol. 352, pp. 129-141.
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Oberst, S, Nava-Baro, E, Lai, JCS & Evans, TA 2015, 'An Innovative Signal Processing Method to Extract Ants’ Walking Signals', Acoustics Australia, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 87-96.
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Oduro, SD, Metia, S, Duc, H, Hong, G & Ha, QP 2015, 'Multivariate adaptive regression splines models for vehicular emission prediction', Visualization in Engineering, vol. 3, no. 1, pp. 1-12.
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Abstract Background Rate models for predicting vehicular emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO X ) are insensitive to the vehicle modes of operation, such as cruise, acceleration, deceleration and idle, because these models are usually based on the average trip speed. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using other variables such as vehicle speed, acceleration, load, power and ambient temperature to predict (NO X ) emissions to ensure that the emission inventory is accurate and hence the air quality modelling and management plans are designed and implemented appropriately. Methods We propose to use the non-parametric Boosting-Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (B-MARS) algorithm to improve the accuracy of the Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) modelling to effectively predict NO X emissions of vehicles in accordance with on-board measurements and the chassis dynamometer testing. The B-MARS methodology is then applied to the NO X emission estimation. Results The model approach provides more reliable results of the estimation and offers better predictions of NO X emissions. Conclusion
Okin, GS, Heras, MM-DL, Saco, PM, Throop, HL, Vivoni, ER, Parsons, AJ, Wainwright, J & Peters, DPC 2015, 'Connectivity in dryland landscapes: shifting concepts of spatial interactions', Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 20-27.
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Dryland ecosystems are often characterized by patchy vegetation and exposed soil. This structure enhances transport of soil resources and seeds through the landscape (primarily by wind and water, but also by animals), thus emphasizing the importance of connectivity – given its relation to the flow of these materials – as a component of dryland ecosystem function. We argue that, as with the fertile‐islands conceptual model before it, the concept of connectivity explains many phenomena observed in drylands. Further, it serves as an organizing principle to understand dryland structure and function at scales from individual plants to entire landscapes. The concept of connectivity also helps to organize thinking about interactions among processes occurring at different scales, such as when processes at one scale are overridden by processes at another. In these cases, we suggest that state change occurs when fine‐scale processes fail to adjust to new external conditions through resource use or redistribution at the finer scale. The connectivity framework has practical implications for land management, especially with respect to decision making concerning the scale and location of agricultural production or habitat restoration in the world's drylands.
O'Toole, D, Kennedy, P, Quinn, J & Murphy, PT 2015, 'Is GDF1 5 beneficial to erythropoiesis in low grade myelodysplastic syndrome?', LEUKEMIA & LYMPHOMA, vol. 56, no. 6, pp. 1914-1915.
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Ozmen, MM, Fu, Q, Kim, J & Qiao, GG 2015, 'A rapid and facile preparation of novel macroporous silicone-based cryogels via photo-induced thiol–ene click chemistry', Chemical Communications, vol. 51, no. 98, pp. 17479-17482.
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We prepared novel cryogelsviafacile thiol–ene reaction at low temperatures, which can selectively remove oils with excellent recyclability.
Palacios-Marqués, D, Merigó, JM & Soto-Acosta, P 2015, 'Online social networks as an enabler of innovation in organizations', Management Decision, vol. 53, no. 9, pp. 1906-1920.
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the effect of online social networks on firm performance and how this technology can help to create value. The authors approach the problem from the Resource-Based View in order to analyze if online social networks can be considered source of competitive advantage and how it can enhance or complement essential marketing competences. Design/methodology/approach – The data were obtained from a survey based on the Spanish hospitality firms. This sector was chosen because Web 2.0 is becoming an important marketing channel in the tourism industry, and especially in hospitality firms. In addition, Spain is the one of the largest tourist destination in the world and has a strong presence of social media and Web 2.0 use by the population and hospitality enterprises. Between February and June 2012, the questionnaire was sent to all top managers of four-star and five-star Spanish hospitality firms. The authors received 197 questionnaires, but four of them were eliminated due to errors or because they were received too late. Findings – Results show that there is a statistically significant positive relationship between online social networks and innovation capacity and that the relationship between online social networks and firm performance is fully mediated by innovation capacity. In turn, the authors find a statistically significant positive relationship between innovation capacity and performance in the hotel industry.
Palacios-Marqués, D, Soto-Acosta, P & Merigó, JM 2015, 'Analyzing the effects of technological, organizational and competition factors on Web knowledge exchange in SMEs', Telematics and Informatics, vol. 32, no. 1, pp. 23-32.
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Palash, SM, Masjuki, HH, Kalam, MA, Atabani, AE, Rizwanul Fattah, IM & Sanjid, A 2015, 'Biodiesel production, characterization, diesel engine performance, and emission characteristics of methyl esters from Aphanamixis polystachya oil of Bangladesh', Energy Conversion and Management, vol. 91, pp. 149-157.
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Paler, A, Polian, I, Nemoto, K & Devitt, SJ 2015, 'Fault-Tolerant High Level Quantum Circuits: Form, Compilation and Description', Quantum Science and Technology, vol. 2, no. 2, p. 025003.
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Fault-tolerant quantum error correction is a necessity for any quantumarchitecture destined to tackle interesting, large-scale problems. Itstheoretical formalism has been well founded for nearly two decades. However, westill do not have an appropriate compiler to produce a fault-tolerant, errorcorrected description from a higher level quantum circuit for state of the arthardware models. There are many technical hurdles, including dynamic circuitconstructions that occur when constructing fault-tolerant circuits withcommonly used error correcting codes. We introduce a package that converts highlevel quantum circuits consisting of commonly used gates into a form employingall decompositions and ancillary protocols needed for fault-tolerant errorcorrection. We call this form the (I)initialisation, (C)NOT, (M)measurementform (ICM) and consists of an initialisation layer of qubits into one of fourdistinct states, a massive, deterministic array of CNOT operations and a seriesof time ordered $X$- or $Z$-basis measurements. The form allows a more flexbileapproach towards circuit optimisation. At the same time, the package outputs astandard circuit or a canonical geometric description which is a necessity foroperating current state-of-the-art hardware architectures using topologicalquantum codes.
Pan, S, Wu, J, Zhu, X, Long, G & Zhang, C 2015, 'Finding the best not the most: regularized loss minimization subgraph selection for graph classification', PATTERN RECOGNITION, vol. 48, no. 11, pp. 3783-3796.
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© 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. Classification on structure data, such as graphs, has drawn wide interest in recent years. Due to the lack of explicit features to represent graphs for training classification models, extensive studies have been focused on extracting the most discriminative subgraphs features from the training graph dataset to transfer graphs into vector data. However, such filter-based methods suffer from two major disadvantages: (1) the subgraph feature selection is s